i have a esxi server with about 100+ Windows XP machine doing several testing work. All of them need to be upgraded to Windows Service Pack 3.
Have made script to let them install the SP3 from our local fast NAS using SMB, but installing/extracting all those little files inside the ServicePack is hammering our NAS.
All vmwares itself are running from a fast SSD inside the ESXi server.
Idea popped my mind: isn't it possible to have the Windows XP machines access the Servicepack files directly from the Datastore of the ESXi Server. Of course this can be done by turning the Service Pack into an ISO file and mount the CDROM on all vmwares needed the update.
Accessing an ISO stored on the DataStore always goes much quicker as from a SMB share, as no network functions are needed!
But can't this be done more easy by directly accessing the the esxi datastore? Or do i really need to mount the iso on all 100+ machines....?
Hopefully something more smart can be done?