How do I patch ESXi 5?

[BillMoller]

I noticed the first patch to ESXi 5 was just released, but there is no infrastructure update, Host Update Utility, etc... included with the new VMWare client.  How does one go about patching a ESXi 5?

It seems like it would be a very obvious and common question, but I searched the forums and documentation and couldn't find anything specific to patching ESXi 5.

Thanks so much,

~Bill

[vmroyale]

Hello and welcome to the forums.

Update Manager is the best choice, but if you don't have that check out http://communities.vmware.com/people/vmroyale/blog/2011/09/15/updating-esxi-5--single-use-esxcli-how...

Good Luck!

[BillMoller]

Thanks for such a quick response!  Will VMWare be rolling out any update utilities for ESXi 5 or will patching be command line from now on?

[vmroyale]

As far as I know, Update Manager will be it.

[john23]

update manager will be avilable.

check this put

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXvzgh1g6Zs

[BillMoller]

Thanks everyone for replying, but isn't Update Manager a vSphere Server component?  I am running ESXi standalone and was hoping for something more user friendly than a command line interface.

Thanks again!

[Dave_Mishchenko]

With a standalone host you only have commandline options (the console, vCLI or PowerShell).

In the past there was a GUI tool that was part of the vSphere client but it was discontinued after ESXi 4.0.

[BillMoller]

I've been following your blog article.  

ESXi500-201109001.zip

seems to require maintenance mode, but when I try to issue the commaned:

vicfg-hostops --server 10.10.10.10 --operation enter

(my server ip of course) it suspends my virtual machines, include the vMA... and I can't proceed.  Am I missing something, am I required to run the vMA from another ESXi machine?  What if I don't have another one?

Thanks!

[Dave_Mishchenko]

The host has to be in maintenance mode for patching which means no running VMs.  You'll need the vMA on another host or have the vCLI installed locally (Linux and Windows versions are available).

You can also enter maintenance mode on the host directly (i.e. when connected via SSH or at the console) with this command - vim-cmd hostsvc/maintenance_mode_enter.

[JCCHAMPION]

You can apply the bundle from the ESXi Shell command line.

First copy the bundle (.zip) file to the local datastore. Enable and log in through ESXi Shell and run esxcli from the command line:

---------------

# Example:

esxcli software vib install --maintenance-mode --depot /vmfs/volumes/datastore1/ESXi500-201109001.zip

reboot

---------------

The --maintenance-mode makes the server believe it's in maintenance mode so be sure you don't have any running VMs. This bundle requires a reboot so don't miss that.

-- JC

[marcel99]

Tried the command line esxcli solution on my standalone esxi5 machine, from the console and  Vsphere CLI.

It generates the following error message: VMware_bootbank_esx-base_5.0.0-0.0.469512 cannot be removed live. Please refer to the log file for more details.

The logfile (.locker/log/esxupdate.log) shows

esxupdate: HostImage: INFO: LiveImageInstaller is not supported, skipping.

(full log in attachment)

I updated the same machine with Esxi4.1 several times this way, without any problems. I'm running out of options.

[JCCHAMPION]

Maybe try it without the "--maintenance-mode" switch and actually put the server into maintenance mode?

I use the following command in the %firstboot section of a kickstart without any issues:

     esxcli software vib install --maintenance-mode --depot /vmfs/volumes/datastore1/ESXi500-201109001.zip

but I'm fairly secure there are no running VMs (it's being built). It does successfully install on a running ESXi server at the end of the bootup. I can verify it applied using "esxcli software vib list" and the build number for the base and tools have updated.

-- JC

[marcel99]

Eventually, /bootbank was inaccessible.

I reinstalled and after that the update worked fine.

[ITAdminTools]

I wrote a blog post about how to patch ESXi 5.0 via the ESXi Console.

http://www.itadmintools.com/2012/02/howto-patch-vmware-vsphere-esxi-50-free.html

Hope that helps,

Brian

http://www.ITAdminTools.com

[adm1shk3]

Holy cow man, I just want to say I think I love you.  I've been looking for how to do this for over a day.  And after reading your blog post, I had it done in 10 minutes.  You are awesome!  Thank you!!  I'm bookmarking that.

[yozh]

I`m also running this in another thread, but I cant get esxcli to execute anything......

esxcli software vib list

Error: Unknown command or namespace software vib list

same with any other command.... what am I doing wrong, some are saying that ESXCLI cant see the plugins... how do I fix that, please help, I need to a apply a patch and I`m not able to do it

[adm1shk3]

Here is an example of the command that I used to do one of our ESXi boxes just a few hours ago to get working with the new Win 8 demo:

esxcli software vib install --depot=/vmfs/volumes/datastore1/ESXi500-201112001.zip

Make sure you have the update loaded into your folder on the data store.  I have one just for updates called Updates,
so my command would look like this:

esxcli software vib install --depot=/vmfs/volumes/datastore1/Updates/ESXi500-201112001.zip


And I don't know if it was mentioned before, but make sure you are in maitenenace mode before you do this.

Hope this helps.

[yozh]

I always get the same ERROR when I run any ESXCLI commands

Error: Unknown command or namespace software vib install

[tejaaus]

There are two ways to upgrade Vmware vSphere Server 5.0 to 5.0 update 1 i.e.via CLI & vCenter update Manager.. Have a look at below guides which are very usefull...

http://mytricks.in/2012/04/how-to-guide-upgrade-esxi-5-to-esxi-5-update-1-from-cli-without-update-ma...

http://mytricks.in/2012/04/guide-how-to-upgrade-vmware-vsphere-esxi-5-to-vsphere-esxi-5-update-1-usi...

Cheers!!

[ccarcit]

I posted on your instruction page. This was immensely helpful in getting the free version of ESXi 5 patched to fix the automatic startup and shutdown bug.