Patching ESXi4

[number1vspheref]

Hi,

I'd be interested to hear people's thoughts on the approach I'm taking to patching ESXi with vihostupdate (don't have access to Update Manager).

As I see it, the firmware is cumulative (i.e. just get the latest version and I have all the updates from the preseding versions) but there are also VMware tools and vSphere client to be considered ... so the approach I am planning is to just download and install the latest patch that has a vSphere client update, the latest patch that has a VMware tools update and the latest patch that has a firmware update. The sequence would be to install the oldest of the three patches first, then the second oldest and finally the newest to avoid problems such as trying to install an older version of the firmware over a newer version (although I presume vihostupdate would handle that OK, just don't want to test out that theory!!).

Any thoughts?

Thanks,

number1vspherefan.

[rogard]

Client and tools can be done last.

then use vihostupdate35 from the rcli.

[number1vspheref]

Thanks for the post... a couple of questions on it:

Why do client and tools last as they may contain an older version of the firmware?

Why use vihostupdate35 instead of just plain vihostupdate?

Cheers,

number1_vsphere_fan.

[rogard]

Sorry my bad, I was got posts mixed up and thought you were using 3.5

vihostupdate is fine. It us general best practice to do client->tools->HW version

[MauroBonder]

follow document.

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[a_p_]

If you like the command line, that's fine

However, why don't you just use the Host Update Utility (Installed with the vSphere Client if selected)?

Add your host(s), click the search for patches button ...

André

[number1vspheref]

Hi,

I have a vague recollection of seeing somewhere that Host Update utility was not to be used with vCenter managed ESX boxes ... that was the reason for not using it.

Cheers,

number1vspherefan.

[a_p_]

I have a vague recollection of seeing somewhere that Host Update utility was not to be used with vCenter managed ESX boxes ... that was the reason for not using it.

If you see that again, please post a link. I am not aware of any restrictions.

You may also take a look at one of the latest KB articles VMware ESXi 4.0, Patch ESXi400-201006201-UG: Updates Firmware.

Scroll down to "Patch Download and Installation":

The typical way to apply patches to ESXi hosts is through the VMware Update Manager. For details, see the VMware vCenter Update Manager Administration Guide.

ESXi hosts can also be updated using vSphere Host Update Utility or by manually downloading the patch zip file from http://support.vmware.com/selfsupport/download/ and installing the bulletin by using the vihostupdate command through the vSphere CLI. For details, see the vSphere CLI Installation and Reference Guide and the vSphere Upgrade Guide.

André

[number1vspheref]

André,

Take a look at

http://www.vmware.com/support/vsphere4/doc/vsp_vc40_u1_rel_notes.html

There is a paragraph there stating:

"vSphere Host Update Utility—For standalone hosts. A standalone host is an ESX/ESXi host that is not managed by vCenter Server. See the vSphere Upgrade Guide for more information."

Think that's where I saw about not using the host update utility with vCenter managed hosts.

number1vspherefan.

[mcssoftware]

Right or wrong (I hope it is OK), I've used the Host Update Utility to update my ESXi hosts without any issue. I run Essentials with VCenter. I should probably setup Patch Manager since I have the lic, but haven't bothered yet since I only have 2 hosts. I'm guessing that the util can be used for standalone hosts and VCenter managed hosts. Most people are not lazy like me and if they have Vcenter usually just install patch manager too.