Complete Guide: Finding Your Missing vCenter Update Manage

Overview of the issue: vCenter Update Manager Tab Missing

VMware vCenter Update Manager is a tool used to automate and manage the process of updating and patching VMware vSphere environments, including ESXi hosts and virtual appliances.

When using HTML for vCenter administration, you may find the Update Manager tab missing in a Windows-based vCenter. This behavior is anticipated in HTML client, as stated in version 6.7 release notes. It's important to note that utilizing Update Manager in the vSphere Client (HTML5-based GUI) is exclusively supported for Update Manager running within the vCenter Server Appliance.

You may have this issue in these common scenarios:

• vCenter Update Manager (VUM) may not be properly configured.
• the VUM plugin within the vCenter Server might get disabled or unregistered.
• VUM versions are not compatible with your updated vCenter Server version. If you've recently upgraded your vCenter Server, you may need to upgrade or reinstall VUM to match the new version.
• Network-related issues, including firewall rules blocking communication between vCenter Server and VUM

Resolution of vCenter Update Manager Missing

To resolve VMware update manager not showing up, you could follow up:

1. Fix any Trust Anchor mismatch in Service registrations to Lookupservice following the procedure documented in vCenter Server or Platform Services Controller certificate validation error messages for external solutions in environments with an External Platform Services Controller.

2. Restart the vSphere Web Client and the vSphere Client services

service-control --restart vsphere-ui
service-control --restart vsphere-client

3. If the Update Manager Plug-in is still missing after fixing Trust Anchor mismatch in both clients, manually place the Plug-in files to their expected location:

▶ Take an SSH session to vCenter Server Appliance

▶ Download Update Manager Plug-in files from these locations:

• https://:9087/vci/downloads/vum-htmlclient.zip
• https://:9087/vci/downloads/vumclient.zip

▶ Place the downloaded files to below folders respectively

• /etc/vmware/vsphere-ui/cm-service-packages/com.vmware.cis.vsphereclient.plugin/.
• /etc/vmware/vsphere-client/cm-service-packages/com.vmware.cis.vsphereclient.plugin/

▶ Check the version of Update Manager service registration in VMware Lookup Service using the following command:

• python /usr/lib/vmidentity/tools/scripts/lstool.py list --url http://localhost:7080/lookupservice/sdk --type client --product com.vmware.vum

▶ Extract the Update Manager Plug-in zip files downloaded in Step 2 and place them in their expected location. The target directories must contain the plug-in versions registered in VMware Update Manager:

• vum-htmlclient.zip to com.vmware.cis.vsphereclient.plugin-
• vumclient.zip to com.vmware.vcIntegrity.vcIntegrity-

▶ Change the owners of the plug-in directories.

• vsphere-ui for /etc/vmware/vsphere-ui/cm-service-packages/com.vmware.cis.vsphereclient.plugin/com.vmware.vum.client-
• vsphere-client for /etc/vmware/vsphere-client/cm-service-packages/com.vmware.cis.vsphereclient.plugin/com.vmware.vcIntegrity.vcIntegrity-

▶ vsphere-client for /etc/vmware/vsphere-client/cm-service-packages/com.vmware.cis.vsphereclient.plugin/com.vmware.vcIntegrity.vcIntegrity-

▶ Restart vSphere Client and vSphere Web Client:

service-control --restart vsphere-ui
service-control --restart vsphere-client

Resolving the issue of vCenter 6.7 upgrade to 7.0 Update Manager not showing up will assist you in addressing similar problems with your vCenters after an upgrade.

Protect VMware vCenter from Data Threats

In the context of virtualization, vCenter serves as the central hub for managing and orchestrating virtualized infrastructure, making data protection a paramount concern. One key aspect of data protection in vCenter is regular and automated backup procedures for virtual machines (VMs), which are crucial in mitigating data loss due to hardware failures, human errors, or unforeseen disasters.

A reliable VMware backup solution - AOMEI Cyber Backup ensures the business continuity and minimizing potential disruptions. AOMEI Cyber Backup is a free and centralized enterprise backup solution for databases and virtual machines. It creates complete and independent image-level VM backups enhancing the customer experience.

✍ Key Features of AOMEI Cyber Backup
✽ Enjoy a user-friendly interface that simplifies the backup and recovery process.
✽ Set up automated backup schedules to ensure regular data protection without manual intervention.
✽ Define backup retention policies and manage storage space efficiently by automatically deleting outdated backups.
✽ Manage and monitor backup tasks for multiple computers from a centralized console.
✽ Receive email notifications upon completion or failure of backup tasks.

Except for Windows, you can also install and run AOMEI Cyber Backup on Linux environment. A 30-day free trial is available here.

1. Bind VMware Host: navigate to Source Device, then add your VMware device with correct authentication information.

2. Create New Task: select VMware ESXi backup > enter task name > choose device and VMs > specify the backup target > schedule backup > backup cleanup.

3. Run Backup: Click Start Backup and select Add the schedule and start backup now, or Add the schedule only.

4. Restore: When restoring, you can also restore to a new location to create a new VM in the same or another datastore/host directly from the backup, saving the trouble of re-configuring the new VM.

Conclusion

vCenter Update Manager (VUM) integration with vCenter Server streamlines administration and provides a centralized view of update compliance. In some cases, you may find your vCenter update manager is missing, so this article offers resolution of this issue, thus helping you maintain the stability, security, and reliability of VMware environments.