Every time you are asking the manufacturer for support when something is not working as you want, you will be asked if you have updated the software with the latest patches. Because I have just a few hosts I will be using the command line esxcli software profile update
If you have more hosts and vCener installed you can leverage VMware Update Manager (VUM) which can orchestrate the patching across your cluster where it goes and puts the host in maintenance mode, evacuates VMs via vMotion automatically each time a host within cluster needs to be patched.
Enable SSH on ESXi
The esxcli software namespace includes the following namespaces and commands. Profile get list. I'm not very familiar with esxcli, I mostly just know the steps to walk through updating, and googling some basic issues when I need to. I can't find any way to list available versions though. Something like.
- Esxcli software profile update-d / absolute / path / to / zip / file-p name-of-profile Usually the VMware page where I download the patch from mentions the profile name, but today I had a patch file and wanted to find the list of profiles it had.
- Esxcli -server= software sources vib list. You can use the -force option for the esxcli software vib or esxcli software profile command to add a VIB.
- Esxcli software sources profile list -d Attention Full path must be used when running the esxcli software command.
In vSpere Web Client click on the server you want to enable SSH and go to Configure -> System -> Security Profile and click Edit. Follow the steps on the picture below.
Enter maintenance mode
You should shutdown all Virtual machines on the selected host or migrate them to a different host before you put the selected host for patching into maintenance mode.
SSH into your host and type the following command
Esxcli Software Profile Update
Open firewall ports
You must enable internet access to HTTPS on your VMware host to be able to search and download the latest patches from VMware vib repository.
Search the latest VMware ESXi patches
The main command to list all the patches in the VMware vib repository you can use this command:
So to be able to find the patch you need, you have to use grep and specify the version and the last year: grep ESXi-version-year
For ESXi 6.5 in 2019 use the following command
For ESXi 6.7 in 2019 use the following command
Patching ESXi
Now you can install the latest patch in the time I’m writing this it’s the patch from May 2019 ESXi-6.5.0-20190504001-standard
There are two commands profile update and profile install, update keeps custom drivers and install does not. I’m always using the profile update command. Avid pro tools mac crack.
Now I have the update result message that the update was successful and I need to reboot my host:
Cleaning commands
You will need to ENABLE SSH on the host again because it is disabled by default after the reboot, If you forgot how see the image above.
As the message above told us we need to reboot the host in order for the changes to be effective
After the reboot we are going to close HTTPS access for the host machine from the VMware firewall
And exit maintenance mode
Now start your Virtual Machines and visit this tutorial in a few months when you will need to update your hosts again :)
Also, don’t forget to DISABLE SSH on your VMware hosts.
ESXi Add Static Route using esxcli
Esxcli Software Update
VMware 6.5 can’t start VM after a host crash
A few months back, we discussed how to upgrade ESXi hosts using VMware Update Manager. However, if you do not employ VUM, hosts can also be upgraded via ESXCLi commands using an online repository.
In this tutorial, we will upgrade an ESXi host from 6.0 to 6.5 using VMware Online Depot. In addition, I will discuss how to differentiate image profiles within the depot. If you are unfamiliar with the VMware Online Depot, it’s an online repository that provides access to a set of VIBs and image profiles.
Let’s start with that overview on image profiles and how to distinguish them in the online depot. This information could have easily been a post in itself, but if you are new to image profiles and the online depot, it may prove beneficial to be all in one place. If you already know the deal, feel free to skip ahead.
- Image Profiles – An image profile is a set of VIBs grouped to make a full installation of ESXi. VMware issues a collection of these image profiles with each update release of ESXi. Typically, you will see between two to four variations for each patch or update. The collections consist of a standard image profile and a no-tools image profile. The no-tools profile does not include VMware Tools, is usually lighter, has less memory overhead, and PXE boots quicker.
- Naming Format for Image Profile – ESXi-<ABC>-<YYYYMMRRSSS>[s]
A = Major ESXi Version; B = Minor ESXi Version; YYYY = Release Year; MM = Release Month; RR = Release Code; SSS = Release Sequence; s = Flag for Security Only Image Profile
- Example of Image Profiles for ESXi-6.5
- ESXi-6.5.0-4564106-standard | Includes all patches (GA release of ESXi 6.5.0)
- ESXi-6.5.0-20170404001-standard | Includes all patches (ESXi 6.5d)
- ESXi-6.5.0-20170404001-no-tools | Contains all patches; no VMware Tools (ESXi 6.5d)
- ESXi-6.5.0-20170301001s-standard | Contains security patches only
- ESXi-5.5.0-20170301001s-no-tools | Contains security patches only; no VMware Tools
For more information on image profiles, check out this VMware KB.
For VMware ESXi versioning, check out this Patch Tracker.
Now that’s out of the way, let’s get started with the update!
Put Host in Maintenance Mode
If you have virtual machines running on the specified host, ensure they are migrated off or shutdown.
Next, enable SSH and connect to the host. Once logged onto the host, run the vim-cmdhostsvc/maintenance_mode_enter command to put the host in maintenance mode.
Enable Firewall Ruleset
After the ESXi host has successfully entered maintenance mode, run the firewall command to enable the httpClient.
esxcli network firewall ruleset set -e true -r httpClient
Select and Update Image Profile
With the firewall ports open for http requests, we’ll run the esxcli software command to browse image profiles available in the depot. The command will also search for strings containing ESXi 6.5 to narrow down the results.
esxcli software sources profile list -d https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml | grep -i ESXi-6.5
Most likely, a handful of results will be returned. Refer to the examples in the beginning of this article for image profile descriptions.
In this scenario, we will be upgrading our host to ESXi 6.5d. To do so, run the software profile update command selecting the 6.5d profile.
esxcli software profile update -d https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml -p ESXi-6.5.0-20170404001-standard
Disable Ruleset
After the update is complete, disable the httpClient on the firewall. Bright eyes discography torrent.
esxcli network firewall ruleset set -e false -r httpClient
Reboot
Run the reboot command to finish out the process.
Esxcli Version
Reboot