UNZIP and UPDATE COMMANDS NOT WORKING ON ESX 3i, 3.5.0, build 207095... WHY?

[Jamboy3]

I was using this document just for the UPDATE INSTALLATION part, as I have Update 5 installed, and it relates to UPDATE 2.

VMware KB: ESX 3.5, Patch ESX350-200806812-BG: Critical Fix for August 12 Licensing Timeout Issue

Now, the document definitely has step by step instructions on installing, querying etc. But my problem is ... NOT ALL COMMANDS WORK FOR ME!

This is why I am here because all the instructions I have been reading does not work with my flavor of ESX 3.5.0, 207095... WHY? It has me stumped.

For example, here are some commands the doc asked me to do and they failed: (Note that I had to unzip the folder on my windows box and upload it to /tmp using vSphere Client 5.5)

/tmp # ls

ESX350-201302402-BG      ESX350-201302402-BG.zip  vmhsdaemon-0

/tmp # unzip ESX350-201302402-BG.zip

-ash: unzip: not found                                                                                          -----------------------THIS COMMAND WAS NOT FOUND ?

/tmp # cd ESX350-201302402-BG

/tmp/ESX350-201302402-BG # esxupdate info

Invalid command info                                                                                          -----------------------THIS COMMAND WAS INVALID ?

/tmp/ESX350-201302402-BG # esxupdate update                                       -----------------------NOTHING HAPPENED HERE ?

/tmp/ESX350-201302402-BG # ls -lh

-rw-------    1 root     root       321.3k Dec 13 15:24 VMware-esx-scripts-3.5.0-988599.i386.rpm

-rw-------    1 root     root         1.6k Dec 13 15:24 contents.xml

-rw-------    1 root     root          701 Dec 13 15:24 contents.xml.sig

-rw-------    1 root     root         1.4k Dec 13 15:24 descriptor.xml

drwxr-xr-x    1 root     root          512 Dec 13 15:24 headers

/tmp/ESX350-201302402-BG #

NOTE: All these commands were run sequentially and I just copied and paste it from my SSH Client (PuTTy.exe)

Is there a toolkit I need to install to have these commands or what really am I missing here? Host is in Maintenance Mode and the 1 VM that's on it is off!

*****************************************************************************

Here are the switches for esxupdate, but I still cannot get it working:

/tmp/ESX350-201302402-BG # esxupdate help

Usage:

    esxupdate [-c FILE] [--HA] [OPTIONS] -d <depotURL> [-b <packageID> [-b <packageID2>...]] scan

    esxupdate [-c FILE] [--HA] [OPTIONS] -d <depotURL> -b <packageID> update

    esxupdate [-c FILE] [--HA] [OPTIONS] install <pkgPath>

    esxupdate [-c FILE] [--HA] [OPTIONS] query

Options:

   -c FILE                     Load command-line options from FILE

   -a, --HA                    Activate the host agent API

   -d, --depot-url URL         A http:, ftp:, or file: URL to a folder containing packages

   -b ID                       Install / scan against package ID

   -f, --force                 Force installation of a package

   -p, --http-proxy HOST:PORT  Proxy to use for HTTP transfer

   -l, --host-locker DIR       Host locker location

   -s, --package-db FILE       Package database file

   -i, --inst-helper FILE      Path to install helper script

   -o, --log-file FILE         Log output to FILE

   -N, --nosigcheck            Do not check signatures of the depot files

   -O, --off-line              Operate in offline mode

WHAT IS MY CORRECT SYNTAX TO: "Scan", "Info" and "Install"?

[larstr · Accepted solution]

Looks like you're  using esx  3i, now also known as esxi. That update is for normal ESX 3.5.

Lars

[Jamboy3]

Lars,

Thanks for your help/comment!

Lets revisit this:

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=101450...

based on the Kb Doc above... it says Build 207095 is running ESX 3.5 U5 (Not ESXi), So this was a little misleading.

UPDATE:

-----------

I have gone to the ESX Server 3i updates (Embedded and Installer) and I have noticed that the first build for ESX 3i is 207095. I have not done any updates to this installation.

Now... I have been using "ESX Server 3 Patch Management guide, which instructs us to use esxupdate, but it appears that some of the command in that document is not supported on my host.

This post: vihostupdate35 | VMware vSphere Blog - VMware Blogs ..... Tells me that I will have to use "vihostupdate35" from a remote CLI which I installed but cannot see how to connect to the server as I cannot find any document that shows the syntax etc.

At this point I am confused and frustrated and just need a little more guidance from someone who could point me to a document or copy and past the procedures I need to use to get this update done.

I have downloaded this file to do the UPDATE: "ESXe350-201302401-O-SG.zip" and I have extracted it on the host on a Datastore and copied it to my "/Tmp/ESXi350" folder.

I have also extracted it there as well just in case I need to browse to the extracted folder, and run any command.

Can anyone out there help me with the correct SYNTAX and METHOD to get this update installed?

I can connect with SSH from a windows machine using puTTy.exe as well as I have VSphere CLI installed on another Windows PC and can browse to the "C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware vSphere CLI\bin" folder to run "vihostupdate35.pl" I can see it in the folder with a "dir" command:

12/11/2014  03:50 PM                 0 esxcli.exe.log

08/13/2014  08:55 AM         1,898,106 esxcli.zip

08/13/2014  08:55 AM            12,300 EULA

08/13/2014  08:55 AM            63,778 EULA.rtf

08/13/2014  08:55 AM           207,212 open_source_licenses.txt

08/13/2014  08:55 AM         2,131,968 python26.dll

08/13/2014  08:55 AM            31,348 svmotion.pl

08/13/2014  08:55 AM                82 vcli.bat

08/13/2014  08:55 AM             9,994 vicfg-advcfg.pl

08/13/2014  08:55 AM            12,080 vicfg-authconfig.pl

08/13/2014  08:55 AM             9,196 vicfg-cfgbackup.pl

08/13/2014  08:55 AM             9,456 vicfg-dns.pl

08/13/2014  08:55 AM            13,032 vicfg-dumppart.pl

08/13/2014  08:55 AM            17,081 vicfg-hostops.pl

08/13/2014  08:55 AM            27,513 vicfg-ipsec.pl

08/13/2014  08:55 AM            78,858 vicfg-iscsi.pl

08/13/2014  08:55 AM             7,129 vicfg-module.pl

08/13/2014  08:55 AM            20,277 vicfg-mpath.pl

08/13/2014  08:55 AM            18,477 vicfg-mpath35.pl

08/13/2014  08:55 AM             8,606 vicfg-nas.pl

08/13/2014  08:55 AM             9,696 vicfg-nics.pl

08/13/2014  08:55 AM             7,425 vicfg-ntp.pl

08/13/2014  08:55 AM             2,989 vicfg-rescan.pl

08/13/2014  08:55 AM            13,808 vicfg-route.pl

08/13/2014  08:55 AM            22,439 vicfg-scsidevs.pl

08/13/2014  08:55 AM            12,716 vicfg-snmp.pl

08/13/2014  08:55 AM             5,731 vicfg-syslog.pl

08/13/2014  08:55 AM            37,949 vicfg-user.pl

08/13/2014  08:55 AM            27,369 vicfg-vmknic.pl

08/13/2014  08:55 AM            13,313 vicfg-volume.pl

08/13/2014  08:55 AM            37,164 vicfg-vswitch.pl

08/13/2014  08:55 AM            17,712 vifs.pl

08/13/2014  08:55 AM            24,230 vihostupdate.pl

08/13/2014  08:55 AM            13,787 vihostupdate35.pl

08/13/2014  08:55 AM            41,721 vmkfstools.pl

08/13/2014  08:55 AM            60,794 vmware-cmd.pl

08/13/2014  08:55 AM            49,664 w9xpopen.exe

              56 File(s)      5,317,017 bytes

               2 Dir(s)  34,432,933,888 bytes free

...So how do I complete this?

(So Close!)

Thanks

[larstr]

Sorry for not being  too helpful here. 3.5 is getting very old and I rarely see anyone using it. It would probably be  easier to get help  if you were using a more recent version.

Lars

[Jamboy3]

Lars,

I understand.

Funny thing is that I have VMware Server 2.0 installed on a 32 bit workstation, running two VM's; VMware ESX 3i, 3.5.0 installed on a 32 bit workstation running 1 VM and I also have 1 DELL PowerEdge T320 64bit, Server, running ESXi 5.5 U5 with  4 VM's. In any environment, you always should have a backup box to your main physical box so that you can spread your BDC's around. I also like to have the backward compatible box, just for testing purposes and support purposes.

With that said, I am hoping someone somewhere out there has a similar box, and have already mastered it, and can just advise me to the correct syntaxes etc.

I have found that managing the ESXi 5.5 box to be much easier doing the updates with "esxcli software vib install -b <bundle_path>" I can manipulate the folders and run the installation syntax and check to see if all installed well etc. But the 3.5 server has me stumped and the syntaxes shown in other KB's just doesn't work! I am not sure if I need to use "vihostupdate35" or "esxupdate" ... I have tried using RCLI and cannot get that to work either.

But thanks for your suggestion and I will wait for someone else to see if they can help me.

NOTE: I have posted this in another question and will not be following this string anymore!

****CLOSED*****