How do you update ESXi 4.1?

[MrJinx2008]

With ESXi 4.0 I could update ESX with the host update utility. This tool would search for patches and install them.

With 4.1 the host upgrade utility doesn't exist anymore, so what's next?

[jcwuerfl]

Check out :

Upgrading ESX 4.0 to ESX 4.1 : http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1022140

[MrJinx2008]

I'm already running ESXi 4.1 and was wondering how you would install new patches (without virtual center).

Normally one could use the "host update utility"...

[WessexFan]

I would imagine its the same as ESX4.0. Without Update Manager it becomes a tad bit more involved, but not too bad.

Usage: esxupdate (check|info|query|remove|scan|stage|update)

Options:

-h, --help show this help message and exit

-b BULLETIN a bulletin ID on which to run the command. May be

specified multiple times.

-m META, --meta=META a metadata file on which to run the command. May be

specified multiple times.

--bundle=BundleZipUrl

An offline bundle .zip file to work with. May be

specified multiple times.

--loglevel=LOGLEVEL enable more verbose log file output. May be a number

(1-50), or one of DEBUG|INFO|WARNING|ERROR|CRITICAL.

Defaults to INFO (20).

--http_proxy=Url:Port

use the proxy server at Url and Port

--timeout=TIMEOUT The timeout value for HTTP, HTTPS and FTP connections.

--retry=RETRY The number of times to retry HTTP, HTTPS and FTP

connections.

-a, --all Display all bulletins. Default is to display only the

applicable updates.

[VTsukanov]

According to the VMware vSphere 4.1 Release Notes—ESXi Edition, now it is vihostupdate.pl, utility from vSphere CLI ... But there are no updates to ESXi 4.1 now.

For this reason it is difficult to tell you how the vihostupdate.pl will work yet

:smileyplus:

WessexFan esxupdate can work only with ESX, not ESXi

[WessexFan]

> WessexFan > esxupdate can work only with ESX, not ESXi

VT,

I used esxupdate on an esxi host last night to upgrade to 4.1 - worked like a charm.

[VTsukanov]

The question was stated about the update procedure and not about the upgrade procedure for host ESXi.

It is known that as an update tool the old version of esxupdate ran on hosts ESXi4 with problems (on ESXi versions 4.0 & 4.0u1 "esxupdate query" did not return current state of installed patches)

Anyway there is no patch for ESXi 4.1 yet, so it is difficult to say which way to update hosts ESXi without vCenter will be the simplest.

[MrJinx2008]

Now I think of it, ESXi doesn't need that much patches as ESX.

If there is a new version, you just replace the current install with a new one.