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How to Upgrade and Patch VMware ESXi?

Before updating or upgrading your virtual infrastructure, fire you must check the ESXi version with hardware compatibility and you can check that on VMWARE COMPATIBILITY GUIDE and VMWARE PRODUCT INTEROPERABILITY MATRICES. Also, you can check ESXi UPGRADE PATH After selecting the version of ESXi you have some ways to update ESXi hypervisor.

  • You can use the ESXi ISO file and upgrade with a fresh Install.
  • You can use the ESXi Offline Bundle and upgrade through the SSH environment.
  • You can use the ESXi Offline Bundle and upgrade through the Lifecycle Manager environment on the vCenter Server.

Upgrade ESXi with ISO file

If you want to use an ISO file for updates, you must download that already ISO file from VMware or other sites. Go to VMWARE and select the version you want and start downloading.

Mount the ISO file on your host and boot the host from the ISO and proceed with install processes until you reach the following step.

If you select Upgrade, your ESXi upgraded and you will still have the previous configuration. But you select Install, the new ESXi will Install and must be from the beginning configured ESXi.

Upgrade ESXi with Offline Bundle

For upgrade or Patch ESXi, first, you need an Offline Bundle file. (That is a .zip file). After downloading that you must Upload that on a one-off ESXi datastore, then on ESXi start SSH service and use a command-line software such as a PUTTY connect to ESXi.

Now, you must use the below command to install the patch on ESXi. In this example our datastore is DS-01.

esxcli software vib install -d /vmfs/volumes/DS-01/VMware-ESXi-7.0U2a-XXX-depot.zip

After finishing the Install and seeing a command prompt, the ESXi is required to reboot. in SSH environment you can use the reboot command to reboot the ESXi.

Result: ESXi is successfully patched.