We are about to update our Dell R640 server by adding a BOSS card with M.2 modules on-board and then moving ESXi from SSD based boot to using the BOSS card to boot the system. The two current SSD's are mirrored and currently contain the boot-able ESXi system and the system has six physical drives connected to a Perc Mini-Raid controller. We have good directions for physically installing the new BOSS card. We are looking for a good recipe for moving ESXi from the SSD's to the M.2 BOSS card. We know one possible complication we have is that we have been unable to find an iso that is an exact match to our build level. We did find a patch roll-up of all the patches up to and including 6.7.0 Update 3 Build-20497097 (A19). So one of our questions is are there any gotcha's if we install the base 6.7.0 Update 3 and then apply the patches to get to build level 20497097. We normally patch from VCenter, which is at least on another server so it will be running. We aren't positive what it would take to get the updated R640 server talking to vcenter again so we can patch that way. Our understanding is that we cannot import the configuration backup until AFTER we have the BOSS card up to the matching patch level therefore we are worried about a catch-22 at that point in the process. Any guidance is much appreciated.
