Updating vSphere 5 Hypervisor?

[Solignis]

I just installed vSphere 5 Hypervisor (Free Edition) on my server. When I went to install the vSphere client I noticed there was no option to install the host update utility like there was in vSphere 4.x. How do I update the server? I have some "drivers" for my HP server I need to upload to the server. Did they intergrate into the client or something?

Where I work we use the vCenter Update Manager but I am running standalone.

[Dave_Mishchenko]

You have a few command line options.  In the vCLI is the command vihostupdate and with PowerCLI you can use  Set-HostFirmware .

The host update utility was removed from the vSphere client when ESXi 4.1 was released.

[AndreTheGiant]

As written by Dave the host update utility is no more present.

You can also use vMA appliance, but still from command line.

Andre

[Solignis]

We are talking about for the free ESXi right? I just want to be sure.

Did they change the restrictions to the vCLI and PowerCLI in ESXi 5?

[Solignis]

Something must be wrong, I say the documentation. But when I run vihostupdate from the VMware vCLI it returns this message to me.

This operation is NOT supported on 5.0.0 platform.

What the heck is that all about? I just downloaded the vCLI so I am using the most current version.

[kaos]

Hi,

Are your drivers ESXi 5.* certified? Or are they the ESXi 4 compatible ones? You might need to contact the vendors for the latest certified drivers. Also, using Image Builder to roll out an ISO to include these drivers in your ISO itself.

Thanks,

[Brmourato]

I'm having the same problem using vihostupdate. I search the web and found out that we have to use esxcli command instead but i didn't managed to figure out the rest of the procedure to install hp bundle.

Anyone can help?

[DSTAVERT]

Welcome to the communities

The installation instructions for the HP offline bundle are shown on the HP site where you downloaded the bundle. Click the link for the offline bundle not the Download button and the instructions are on the installation tab.

Copied from the HP website

1. Power off any virtual machines that are running on the host and place the host into maintenance mode.

2. Transfer the offline bundle onto the ESXi host local path, or extract it onto an online depot.

3. Install the bundle on the ESXi host.

• Install remotely from client, with offline bundle contents on a online depot:
      esxcli -s <server> -u root -p mypassword software vib install -d <depotURL/bundle-index.xml>
• Install remotely from client, with offline bundle on ESXi host:
      esxcli -s <server> -u root -p mypassword software vib install -d <ESXi local path><bundle.zip>
• Install from ESXi host, with offline bundle on ESXi host:
      esxcli software vib install -d <ESXi local path><bundle.zip>

4. After the bundle is installed, reboot the ESXi host for the updates to take effect.

5. (Optional) Verify that the vibs on the bundle are installed on your ESXi host.

esxcli -s <server> -u root -p mypassword software vib list

6. (Optional) Remove individual vibs.  <vib name> can be identified by listing the vibs as shown in #5.

esxcli -s <server> -u root -p mypassword software vib remove -n <vib name>

[a_p_]

Doesn't it work as described by HP on the Installation tab for the Offline Bundle?

André

[Brmourato]

No, it doesn't. Now it says esxcli can only be used with version 4.0 or newer server.

I don't need to say that i'm truing this in esxi 5.0.0....

[Brmourato]

And first it says Error:unknow namespace software.

i'm using this :

software vib install -d phc/bundle1.zip

in which phc is datastore name and bundle1.zip is this bundle filename.

What am i doing wrong?

[DSTAVERT · Accepted solution]

Try using SSH to connect to the ESXi host and run from there. Copy the hp offline bundle to a datastore or use scp to copy to /tmp on the esxi host

esxcli software vib install -d /tmp/hp-esxi5.0uX-bundle-1.0-20.zip

or

esxcli software vib install -d /vmfs/volumes/datastore/hp-esxi5.0uX-bundle-1.0-20.zip

[Solignis]

esxcli worked for uploading the hp drivers.

Does the same apply for patches from VMware?

[a_p_]

According to the documentation vihostupdate has been replaced with esxcli in version 5.

See Updating Hosts

When you add custom drivers or patches to a host, the process is called an update.
- Update ESXi 4.0 and ESXi 4.1 hosts with the vihostupdate command, as discussed in the vSphere Command-Line Interface Installation and Reference Guide included in the vSphere 4.1 documentation set.
- Update ESXi 5.0 hosts with esxcli software vib commands discussed in the vSphere Upgrade documentation included in the vSphere 5.0 documentation set. You cannot run the vihostupdate command against an ESXi 5.0 host.

André

[Brmourato]

Problem solved using esxcli via SSH but i had to write the file path this way /vmfs/volumes/4da03d93-745ef046-fcdc-b499baba2604/bundle.zip and i was writing the name that i gave to the storage, for example SBS 2011.

Thanks for your help.

[khdetwei]

How did you get SSH to work? I can not ssh to the vSphere server.

[Dave_Mishchenko]

With an ESXi 5 host go to Configuration > Software > Security Profile.  Click Properties (for Services), find the SSH service and click Options to get the screen to start it up.

[khdetwei]

Thanks Dave. That's it.

[corndog]

Removing Host Update Utility from version 5 is completely Brain Dead.  Host Update Utility 4.0 was so much easier.

In a world of viruses, trojans, worms, exploits, whathaveyou, WHY would VMWare take ANY step to make updates more difficult?

I have 8 enterprise colleagues who have left VMWare and gone to HyperV with data-centers full of servers - and this stupid move on VMWare's part was high on their list of reasons to do so.

Face.  Palm.

[rmicone1]

I mean it's not a reason to jump ship, but it's certainly troubling on why you would just completely remove the host update utility alltogether.  If this new command line tool could search existing repositories automatically like "apt" on debian systems it would be fine, but as of now I have to go wade through documentation and google searches to figure out how to use it :smileyangry: