A desired image of a virtualization software is deployed in hosts that are located in a remote data center which is connected to a central data center over a first network having a lower bandwidth than that of a second network over which the hosts in the remote data center communicate with each other. The method of deploying the virtualization software in the hosts includes: upgrading the virtualization software in a first host of the plurality of hosts using portions of the desired image that are transmitted from the central data center to the remote data center over the first network; and upgrading the virtualization software in a second host of the plurality of hosts using portions of the desired image that are transmitted from the first host to the second host over the second network, without retransmitting the portions from the central data center to the remote data center.