Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
You can now use this baseline to determine which ESX/ESXi hosts are not compliant with
the latest security patches by attaching it to one or more hosts, a procedure you'll learn later in
this chapter in the section “Routine Updates.”
Groups, or baseline groups, are simply combinations of nonconl icting baselines. You might
use a baseline group to combine multiple dynamic patch baselines, like the baseline group
shown in Figure 4.16. In that example, a baseline group is dei ned that includes the built-in
Critical Host Patches and Non-Critical Host Patches baselines. By attaching this baseline group
to your ESX/ESXi hosts, you would be able to ensure that your hosts had all available patches
installed.
Figure 4.16
Combining multiple
dynamic baselines
into a baseline
group provides
greater fl exibility in
managing patches.
You can also use baseline groups to combine different types of baselines. Each baseline
group can include one of each type of upgrade baseline. For a host baseline group, there is only
one type of upgrade baseline—a host upgrade. For VM/VA upgrade baselines, there are mul-
tiple types: VA Upgrades, VM Hardware Upgrades, and VM Tools Upgrades. When you are
working with a host baseline group, you also have the option of adding a host extension base-
line into the baseline group. This ability to combine different types of baselines together into a
baseline group simplii es the application of multiple baselines to objects in your vCenter Server
hierarchy.
Another use for baseline groups would be to combine a dynamic patch policy and a i xed
patch policy into a baseline group. For example, there might be a specii c i x for your ESX/ESXi
hosts, and you want to ensure that all your hosts have all the critical patches—easily handled by
the built-in Critical Host Patches dynamic baseline—as well as the specii c i x. To do this, cre-
ate a i xed baseline for the specii c patch you want included, and then combine it in a baseline
group with the built-in Critical Host Patches dynamic baseline.
Figure 4.17 shows an example of a host baseline group that combines different types of host
baselines. In this example, a baseline group is used to combine a host upgrade baseline and
dynamic patch baselines. This would allow you to upgrade an ESX/ESXi host and then ensure
that the host has all the applicable updates for the new version.
Figure 4.17
Use baseline
groups to combine
host upgrade and
dynamic host patch
baselines.
