VMware ESX/ESXi Host Updates via CLI

By Kernel 7 On April 28th, 2013

VMware ESX/ESXi patches can be applied easily through the CLI.
As a pre-requisite for this guide, you need to enable SSH access to the ESX/ESXi host.

[1] Download the necessary patches from VMware’s web site:
http://www.vmware.com/go/downloadpatches

[2] Browse the ESX/ESXi host’s storage and upload the patches to the “/DATA_STORE_LOCATION/esxi-patches/” folder.

[3] Shutdown all the VMs and put the ESX/ESXi host in “Maintenance Mode”.

[4] Apply the patches one after the other in the order they were released, using the following command in the SSH CLI:
ESX/ESXi v4.x :: esxupdate –bundle=/DATA_STORE_LOCATION/esxi-patches/ESXXXXX-XXXXXXXXX.zip update
ESX/ESXi v5.x :: esxcli software vib update -d “/DATA_STORE_LOCATION/esxi-patches/ESXXXXX-XXXXXXXXX.zip”

[5] Reboot the vSphere/ESX/ESXi host if required by the patches installed.

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