Update / upgrade ESXi 5.0 U1 to 6.0 (or any more recent version) in CLI

[thibaultg]

Hello,

I've a server on OVH provider that is running by default ESXi 5.0 update 1. (ESXi 5.0.0 build-623860/VMware ESXi 5.0.0 Update 1)

As it's a hosted server, I can't manage any update/upgrade with CD/DVD or USB Key.

I want to update this ESXI in CLI to something more recent. No Update Manager and no vCenter available here.

As it's not proposed by default by OVH (low cost provider), I need to make the update thanks to CLI with PuTTY.

I've tried so many blog posts and forums and I've already done this by the past. But I can't right now and I don't understand why.

I've tried to update to 5.5 or 6.0. 6.7 would be perfect but I would be happy enough with 6.0.

When I tried to see the available packages I got nothing. I don't know if the process has changed. The below command brings me nothing.

> esxcli software sources profile list -d https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml

I've checked the following blog posts but I got stuck in the beginning because I've no output from the above command.

Is this process has changed or the URL changed ?

https://www.virtualizationhowto.com/2017/08/upgrading-vmware-esxi-6-5-update-1-commandline/

https://cloudhat.eu/update-esxi-6-5-command-line/

https://www.vladan.fr/how-to-upgrade-esxi-6-0-to-6-5-via-cli-on-line/

Is anyone can share me any hints about what I'm doing wrong ?

Thanks in advance

[vmrale]

thibaultg

it's not a problem with esxcli command, update procedure and VMware's repository address. It's a problem with routing and ESXi host's vmk0 IP address exposure.

Contact with your OVH provider to assign your host external address or configure a NAT/PAT rule to make the host able to properly communicate with the repository.

If wget responds with this it will be ok.

[root@esx1:~] wget http://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml

Connecting to hostupdate.vmware.com (23.212.228.56:80)

vmw-depot-index.xml  100% |**********************************************************************************************************************************|   605   0:00:00 ETA

Regards

[thibaultg]

Thank you for your help vmrale.

It seems that I've the same answer than you and the wget is successfull.

Any other possibility ?

[vmrale]

What is throwing this esxcli command?

esxcli software profile get

[a_p_]

Other than running the upgrade from the online repository, you may upload the appropriate offline bundle to the host's datastore, and run the upgrade using this bundle.

In any case, make sure that the new version is supported on your provider's hardware, otherwise you may end up with a non working machine! Also keep in mind that you cannot directly upgrade from your current version to all of the newer versions. For possible upgrade paths, see http://partnerweb.vmware.com/comp_guide2/sim/interop_matrix.php?#upgrade&solution=1​

André