Resetting VMware Update Manager Database in vCenter Server Appliance 6.5/6.7/7.0/8.0

Products

VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

The following article outlines how to reset the VMware Update Manager Database and Patch Store on a vCenter Server Appliance 6.5 or vCenter Server Appliance 6.7 or vCenter Server 7.0 or vCenter Server 8.0.

Starting with vCenter Server Appliance 6.5, the VMware Update Manager is embedded into the vCenter Server Appliance.

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 8.0.x
VMware vCenter Server 7.0.x
VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.7.x
VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.5.x

Resolution

Process to Reset VMware Update Manager Database on a VCSA 6.5 or 6.7 or 7.0 or 8.0:

Caution: Resetting the Update Manager database is a destructive task. Custom baselines (but not Cluster Images), custom download settings and manually imported patches/ISOs will be removed and will need to be reapplied following the reset.
Before applying the steps below, please take a backup or an offline-snapshot (in powered-off state) of the vCenter Server Appliance . If the vCenter is part of a Linked Mode replication setup, please backup/snapshot all replicating nodes as well.
Furthermore, please make note of all custom configuration in Update Manager, like proxy settings, third party download URLs, customized baselines, etc. before proceeding.

Connect to vCenter Server Appliance 6.5/6.7/7.0/8.0 via SSH with root
Run the shell command to switch to the BASH Shell:
```
# shell
```

Stop the VMware Update Manager Service:

# service-control --stop vmware-updatemgr

Depending on the vCenter version, run one of the following commands to reset the VMware Update Manager Database:
1. In vCenter Server Appliance 6.5:
```
# /usr/lib/vmware-updatemgr/bin/updatemgr-util reset-db
```
2. In vCenter Server Appliance 6.7/7.0/8.0:
```
# python /usr/lib/vmware-updatemgr/bin/updatemgr-utility.py reset-db
```
Run the following Command to delete the contents of the VMware Update Manager Patch Store:
```
# rm -rf /storage/updatemgr/patch-store/*
```

Start the VMware Update Manager Service:

# service-control --start vmware-updatemgr

Note: Logging out and back into the vSphere Web Client maybe required to see the change to the environment.

Note: For vSAN environments this will also remove the vSAN default baselines. These baselines are recreated automatically when there is a configuration change to vSAN such as add/remove a host/disk or an update to the HCL DB. The vSAN cluster can still be updated without the vSAN default baselines.

Workaround:
Workaround to reset the DB if NSX-T is installed in a vLCM-enabled cluster (applicable for vCenter Server Appliance 7.0 U1 and beyond).

After running the reset-db script, create an empty vLCM enabled cluster.
From the NSX Manager UI, configure NSX on the cluster created in step 1. This will ensure the NSX depot gets uploaded to the VC again.
The cluster created in step 1 can now be deleted.

The NSX depot gets uploaded to VC when NSX is configured on a vLCM cluster only if the depot is not already present. So, if the reset-db script removes this depot from VC, then this depot can be uploaded again by creating an empty vLCM cluster and enabling NSX on that cluster.

Additional Information

Impact/Risks:
For environments where NSX-T is deployed, resetting the VMware Update Manager database will result in clusters configured with vLCM cluster images (steady-state clusters) to be unable to save or validate the image associated with them.
Do not reset the VMware Update Manager database if NSX-T is installed on a cluster where a cluster image is configured without the help of VMware Support.