ESXi 6.0.0 patching process

[tRAVeral]

Good morning,

    I have just taken on a new job and I am the sole IT personnel. I manage 5 different offices, each of which runs ESXi 6.0.0. I have zero experience updating this software and am looking for assistance in the procedure.

Each office has:

ESXi host = Dell R530 server, each currently runs 2 VMs - a DC and an App server in each office.

Currently on VMware ESXi 6.0.0 build-2809209

I am not licensed for Vcenter Server and currently manage the VMs via rdp and Vsphere Client version 6.

Can someone point me in the right direction for the update procedure?

I very much appreciate the assistance!

Thank you

[thecloudxpert]

I'm not sure you will be able to complete an upgrade of those hosts without an outage to the VMs that are located on them.

You will have to download the latest ISO from Vmware attach it the host the rebuild it, the issue will be the configuration may be lost.

You may need to use RVTools too capture the configuration.

Thanks

Chris

[tRAVeral]

Hello, I'm aware that I'll have to shut down my VMs and enter maintenance mode. I have an MPLS WAN between sites and can access the kvm so I'm at the console of each ESXi host. Can't I simply download U3, put it on the local datastore and execute the install commands to update my hosts?

[thecloudxpert]

check out “esxcli software vib” commands to patch an ESXi 5.x/6.x host (2008939) | VMware KB

[TheBobkin · Accepted solution]

Hello,

Welcome to the VMware forums, we hope you stick around!

Yes you can update hosts using the CLI either by connecting via SSH or directly to the DCUI.

The procedure for the different methods of achieving this are outlined here:

https://kb.vmware.com/kb/2008939

Typically you will want to download a patch zip file from VMware or hardware-vendor for custom images and then use update such as this:

#esxcli software vib update -d "/vmfs/volumes/Datastore/DirectoryName/PatchName.zip"

A note of caution: using the 'install' command as opposed to the 'update' command can overwrite more current versions of drivers.

Bob

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[tRAVeral]

Thank you so much for the information. I am in fact running a dell customized image. I'm currently downloading the .zip from Dell and will execute the command you listed via CLI. Moving forward do you recommend always using "update" instead of install? In what scenario should I use install?

Thank you again for the assistance.

[TheBobkin]

Fresh install or deliberately trying to overwrite a bad install is when I would use install command, or if installing a vib that contained ONLY drivers/modules that were not already installed.

Bob