Back in 2015, I posted a use case on the VMware Communities that described a process I implemented to keep various Windows Templates up to date with Microsoft patches on multiple vSphere 5.5 environments.
It was common to run into situations where a virtual machine would be deployed from a template and it was way behind on Microsoft patches; this incurred additional time to bring the server up-to-date, time that could've been used in better ways.
For those managing multiple sites and not running vSphere 6.x which provides the ability of using Content Libraries where a single or less quantity of templates can be kept updated and shared with Subscribed Libraries (vCenters), this solution may still be applicable.
It was common to run into situations where a virtual machine would be deployed from a template and it was way behind on Microsoft patches; this incurred additional time to bring the server up-to-date, time that could've been used in better ways.
For those managing multiple sites and not running vSphere 6.x which provides the ability of using Content Libraries where a single or less quantity of templates can be kept updated and shared with Subscribed Libraries (vCenters), this solution may still be applicable.
What's required on Templates:
- Server 2008/2012 Templates need to be running PowerShell v.3 minimum but v.4 is highly recommended.
- PowerShell 4 for 2008 server can be downloaded here
- The Windows Update PowerShell Module needs to be installed on your templates.
- It can be downloaded from here
Note: The Windows Update PowerShell Module includes the command
Get-WUInstall which is what I used to initiate patch installations remotely (from the script).
