Use Altiris RDP to Deploy VMWare ESX Patches

It doesn’t get easier than drag and drop patching, so prepare yourself to learn the art of Altiris scripting.

1. You will need an FTP repository for the ESX patches. I’m using my Altiris server as it makes the most sense. Create an FTP site and a username/password with read-only access.
2. Once the site is created drop your esx-*******-upgrade.tar.gz files in the directory.
3. You will now create three batch files:
a. getpatch.bat
b. extractbatch.bat
c. applybatch.bat
4. getpatch.bat #!/bin/sh
HOST=‘192.168.3.203’
USER=‘insight’
PASSWD=‘insight1’
FILE=‘esx-2.5.3-28065-upgrade.tar.gz’
ftp -n $HOST < quote USER $USER
quote PASS $PASSWD
cd esx
lcd /tmp
binary
get $FILE
quit
END_SCRIPT
Exit

5. extractpatch.bat
cd /tmp
tar -zxvf esx-2.5.3-28065-upgrade.tar.gz
lilo -R linux-up &&reboot

6. applypatch.bat
cd /tmp
cd esx-2.5.3-28065-upgrade
echo y | ./upgrade.pl

7. Copy your batch files into \Program Files\Altiris\eXpress\Deployment Server\lib\bin16.
8. Now tie this all into a package by creating a new job, adding the scripts in the proper order (be sure to use Linux mode). Throw in a script to clean up after itself and you are all done.
9. Drag and drop your way to patch heaven.

Script Execution Time = ~5 minutes, including reboot.

- Jason Langone

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