esxcli to Update ESXi 5 without removing existing VIBs for storage drivers

[cypherx]

Hi.  I have some HP Proliant DL360p G8 and DL380p G8 servers.  For whatever reason the stock vmware install does not see the SmartArray 420i controller, so theres no local storage.  So they were installed with ESXi 5.0 U3 HP custom image from HP direct.

Today I updated one DL380p G8 which is not in full production yet to build 14789271.  I did use the datastore browser to move the ESXi500-201401001.zip file over.  I SSH onto it and shutdown the guests on it and put it in maint mode.  I ran esxcli to do the update and that seemed to do the trick.  Did a reboot, waited and then went back in using the vsphere client and the two guests on it were (inaccessable) and it was complaining about no persistent storage, which I recall it does this when installed to 8GB flash card on the server.

So I had to scramble and found two drivers that I WinSCP to the /tmp folder and they were mp2sas-15.10.06.00.1vmw-10438034 and hpsa-500-5.0.0-1487923 from HP's site.  I ran the esxcli command to install these and then rebooted.  I was back in business.

So I have two other stand alone ESXi servers to update.  Ones an HP DL360p G8 and another is a HP DL380 G7 (which never gave a problem with the standard image).  Then I have a two server cluster of HP DL380G8 and one DL360G8 with vSphere and that does have update manager.  They use shared storage for their vm's.

So with these other servers to update, I guess I'm asking to save time is there a command switch when using esxcli to patch but do not remove vibs?  Or is there no way around it and the quickest solution is after the patch run the esxcli to install the two storage drivers BEFORE rebooting?

I notice in the logs running the patch removes a bunch of stuff:

VIBs Removed: Broadcom_bootbank_misc-cnic-register_1.78.1.v50.1-1OEM.500.0.0.472560, Broadcom_bootbank_net-bnx2_2.2.3t.v50.2-1OEM.500.0.0.472560, Broadcom_bootbank_net-bnx2x_1.78.27.v50.1-1OEM.500.0.0.472560, Broadcom_bootbank_net-cnic_1.78.12.v50.4-1OEM.500.0.0.472560, Broadcom_bootbank_net-tg3_3.131d.v50.1-1OEM.500.0.0.472560, Broadcom_bootbank_scsi-bnx2i_2.78.11.v50.1-1OEM.500.0.0.472560, Emulex_bootbank_net-be2net_4.6.247.7-1OEM.500.0.0.472560, Emulex_bootbank_scsi-lpfc820_8.2.4.151.65-1OEM.500.0.0.472560, Hewlett-Packard_bootbank_scsi-hpsa_5.0.0-44OEM.500.0.0.472560, Intel_bootbank_net-igb_4.2.16.3-1OEM.500.0.0.472560, Intel_bootbank_net-ixgbe_3.14.3.1-1OEM.500.0.0.472560, LSI_bootbank_scsi-mpt2sas_13.10.02.00.1vmw-1OEM.500.0.0.472560, QLogic_bootbank_ima-qla4xxx_500.2.01.31-1vmw.0.0.060523, QLogic_bootbank_scsi-qla4xxx_634.5.18.0-1OEM.500.0.0.472560, VMware_bootbank_esx-base_5.0.0-3.41.1311175, VMware_bootbank_misc-drivers_5.0.0-3.41.1311175, VMware_bootbank_net-e1000e_1.1.2-3vmw.500.2.26.914586, VMware_bootbank_net-nx-nic_5.0.629-3vmw.500.0.0.472560, VMware_bootbank_scsi-rste_2.0.2.0088-1vmw.500.1.11.623860, VMware_locker_tools-light_5.0.0-3.41.1311175, qlogic_bootbank_scsi-qla2xxx_934.5.20.0-1OEM.500.0.0.472560

   VIBs Skipped: VMware_bootbank_ata-pata-amd_0.3.10-3vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_ata-pata-atiixp_0.4.6-3vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_ata-pata-cmd64x_0.2.5-3vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_ata-pata-hpt3x2n_0.3.4-3vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_ata-pata-pdc2027x_1.0-3vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_ata-pata-serverworks_0.4.3-3vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_ata-pata-sil680_0.4.8-3vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_ata-pata-via_0.3.3-2vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_block-cciss_3.6.14-10vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_ehci-ehci-hcd_1.0-3vmw.500.1.11.623860, VMware_bootbank_esx-tboot_5.0.0-2.26.914586, VMware_bootbank_ipmi-ipmi-devintf_39.1-4vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_ipmi-ipmi-msghandler_39.1-4vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_ipmi-ipmi-si-drv_39.1-4vmw.500.2.26.914586, VMware_bootbank_net-e1000_8.0.3.1-2vmw.500.2.35.1254542, VMware_bootbank_net-enic_1.4.2.15a-1vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_net-forcedeth_0.61-2vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_net-r8168_8.013.00-3vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_net-r8169_6.011.00-2vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_net-s2io_2.1.4.13427-3vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_net-sky2_1.20-2vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_ohci-usb-ohci_1.0-3vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_sata-ahci_3.0-6vmw.500.1.11.623860, VMware_bootbank_sata-ata-piix_2.12-4vmw.500.1.11.623860, VMware_bootbank_sata-sata-nv_3.5-3vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_sata-sata-promise_2.12-3vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_sata-sata-sil_2.3-3vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_sata-sata-svw_2.3-3vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_scsi-aacraid_1.1.5.1-9vmw.500.1.11.623860, VMware_bootbank_scsi-adp94xx_1.0.8.12-6vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_scsi-aic79xx_3.1-5vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_scsi-fnic_1.5.0.3-1vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_scsi-ips_7.12.05-4vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_scsi-megaraid-mbox_2.20.5.1-6vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_scsi-megaraid-sas_5.34-1vmw.500.1.11.623860, VMware_bootbank_scsi-megaraid2_2.00.4-9vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_scsi-mptsas_4.23.01.00-5vmw.500.1.18.768111, VMware_bootbank_scsi-mptspi_4.23.01.00-5vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_uhci-usb-uhci_1.0-3vmw.500.0.0.469512

Installing the HP drivers look like this

esxcli software vib install -d /tmp/mpt2sas-15.10.06.00.1vmw-offline_bundle-1438034.zip

Installation Result

   Message: The update completed successfully, but the system needs to be rebooted for the changes to be effective.

   Reboot Required: true

   VIBs Installed: LSI_bootbank_scsi-mpt2sas_15.10.06.00.1vmw-1OEM.500.0.0.472560

   VIBs Removed: VMware_bootbank_scsi-mpt2sas_06.00.00.00-6vmw.500.1.11.623860

   VIBs Skipped:

esxcli software vib install -d /tmp/hpsa-500-5.0.0-offline_bundle-1487923.zip

Installation Result

   Message: The update completed successfully, but the system needs to be rebooted for the changes to be effective.

   Reboot Required: true

   VIBs Installed: Hewlett-Packard_bootbank_scsi-hpsa_5.0.0.58-1OEM.500.0.0.472560

   VIBs Removed: VMware_bootbank_scsi-hpsa_5.0.0-17vmw.500.3.41.1311175

   VIBs Skipped:

Thanks for the help!

[cypherx]

Well I'm not sure of a command line switch to omit removing vibs so I will just install the update and then before rebooting install the storage controller vibs.

I did update the Proliant DL380 G7 and that server really doesn't need any out of the box vibs except some iLO stuff which I never had on in the first place, but I corrected that so I could update the iLO firmware from the esxi shell.

For my main cluster I have 5 Dell servers that all work out of the box, but I did have to install a qlogic 10gbe nic vib so hopefully the update doesn't remove that.  I will have the driver handy in case it does.  The dell servers will be updated with update manager though since they are managed by a vcenter server.