I've discovered a really great tool for patching ESX servers from Windows: VMTS Patch Manager. It's a bit like WSUS in that all patches are downloaded once to a central repository and you select what you want pushed out from there. You don't need to log on to any ESX servers or spend any time at the command line, and it integrates with Virtual Centre which enables you to manage the patching of your whole virtual infrastructure by connecting to one place. All this is packaged in an easy-to-use GUI and available to download for free.
It's also clever enough to recognise patches that will downgrade your system or are not required, and it will not install them for you. It's not quite perfect and does have a few quirks and rough edges, but I would definitely recommend the download if you have an ESX deployment that needs patching. I've seen a few alternatives to VMTS Patch Manager that are basically perl scripts and http repositories, but nothing else I've seen is as good as this.
Technorati Tags: ESX Server, Administration, ESX Patching
