VUM supports an embedded or external database. Microsoft SQL Express is included with the VUM installation media. The embedded Microsoft SQL Express database is suitable for small deployments of five hosts and 50 virtual machines. Larger deployments require a Microsoft SQL or Oracle DB, which can be installed on the same server or an external one.

VUM cannot be deployed on the same server as the VCSA. VUM can be installed on the same server as a Windows vCenter Server, as long as sufficient resources are allocated. The following table lists the minimum requirements for VUM:

The disk space required to support VUM will depend on the size of the environment. VMware provides a VUM Sizing Estimator for vSphere 6.7, which can be downloaded from https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/6.7/vsphere-update-manager-documentation-671.zip

Patch and upgrade baselines contain patches (or groups of patches). These baselines can be fixed or dynamic. Critical and non-critical patch baselines are included by default. These are dynamic baselines that are regularly updated. Baselines can be attached to a virtual machine, a group of virtual machines, a host, a group of hosts, a cluster, or a data center. Hosts, clusters, and data centers can be scanned against the attached patch baseline, and then remediated.