What is the basic packaging for vSphere Installation Bundles (VIBs) and metadata in vSphere Lifecycle Manager?

The basic packaging for vSphere Installation Bundles (VIBs) and their associated metadata in vSphere Lifecycle Manager is referred to as components. A component represents a single piece of software or package that may consist of a VIB and any necessary metadata that defines attributes like compatibility and configuration requirements. Components serve as the building blocks that are used to define desired state configurations for clusters or hosts in a vSphere environment, facilitating streamlined and consistent deployment and management of updates and patches.

In contrast, other terms such as vendor add-on, base image, and baseline refer to different concepts within the context of VMware vSphere. Vendor add-ons typically refer to additional modules provided by third-party vendors. A base image might indicate a foundational virtual machine or operating system image used as a starting point for creating other virtual machines. Lastly, a baseline encompasses a grouping of components or VIBs that represent a specific version or configuration considered for compliance or vSphere host updates but does not itself package the components directly.