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Created: December 22nd 2011
Last updated: May 1st 2020
Categories: VMWare ESXi 5.x
Author: Marcus Fleuti

Howto patch a VMWare ESXi 5.x host over SSH (without the vSphere Update Manager)

Tags:  ESXi,  SSH,  VMWare,  vSphere
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The goal: Patch VMWare ESXi server over CLI

  1. Upload the update (in our example it's called ESXi500-201112001.zip) with the vSphere client onto one of the servers datastore
    1. Start vSphere client
    2. In the left tree window: Click on the Server
    3. In the right window: Click the tab "Overview" (Übersicht)
    4. Under "ressources" right click on the desired datastore and choose "browse datastore" (Datenspeicher durchsuchen)
    5. Create a directory called "systemupdates"
    6. Upload the file into that directory
  2. Activate the SSH server service on your ESXi server
    1. In the left tree window: Click on the Server
    2. In the right window: Click the tab "Configuration" (Konfiguration)
    3. Click on "Security Profile" (Sicherheitsprofil)
    4. Click on "Properties" (Eigenschaften)
    5. Set a tick on the SSH-Server
    6. Click "Options"
    7. Decide whether you want SSH always to be enabled and click on "Start"
  3. Logon to your ESXi server using an SSH-Client like Putty by entering the hosts IP at port 22
  4. Username: root   ,  Password: your_own_password
  5. Enter the following command to start the update process (Please wait at least 1 minute after you've uploaded the file before you start the update process. We've experienced problems when starting the update process right after uploading the file. Perhaps there's some caching or something):
esxcli software vib update --depot=/vmfs/volumes/datastore1/systemupdates/ESXi500-201112001.zip

You should be receiving an output like this:

Installation Result
Message: The update completed successfully, but the system needs to be rebooted for the changes to be effective.
Reboot Required: true
VIBs Installed: VMware_bootbank_esx-base_5.0.0-0.7.515841, VMware_bootbank_misc-drivers_5.0.0-0.7.515841, VMware_bootbank_net-be2net_4.0.88.0-1vmw.500.0.7.515841, VMware_bootbank_net-e1000_8.0.3.1-2vmw.500.0.7.515841, VMware_bootbank_net-e1000e_1.1.2-3vmw.500.0.7.515841
VIBs Removed: VMware_bootbank_esx-base_5.0.0-0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_misc-drivers_5.0.0-0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_net-be2net_4.0.88.0-1vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_net-e1000_8.0.3.1-2vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_net-e1000e_1.1.2-3vmw.500.0.0.469512
VIBs Skipped: VMware_bootbank_ata-pata-amd_0.3.10-3vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_ata-pata-atiixp_0.4.6-3vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_ata-pata-cmd64x_0.2.5-3vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_ata-pata-hpt3x2n_0.3.4-3vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_ata-pata-pdc2027x_1.0-3vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_ata-pata-serverworks_0.4.3-3vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_ata-pata-sil680_0.4.8-3vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_ata-pata-via_0.3.3-2vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_block-cciss_3.6.14-10vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_ehci-ehci-hcd_1.0-3vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_esx-tboot_5.0.0-0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_ima-qla4xxx_2.01.07-1vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_ipmi-ipmi-devintf_39.1-4vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_ipmi-ipmi-msghandler_39.1-4vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_ipmi-ipmi-si-drv_39.1-4vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_misc-cnic-register_1.1-1vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_net-bnx2_2.0.15g.v50.11-5vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_net-bnx2x_1.61.15.v50.1-1vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_net-cnic_1.10.2j.v50.7-2vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_net-enic_1.4.2.15a-1vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_net-forcedeth_0.61-2vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_net-igb_2.1.11.1-3vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_net-ixgbe_2.0.84.8.2-10vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_net-nx-nic_4.0.557-3vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_net-r8168_8.013.00-3vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_net-r8169_6.011.00-2vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_net-s2io_2.1.4.13427-3vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_net-sky2_1.20-2vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_net-tg3_3.110h.v50.4-4vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_ohci-usb-ohci_1.0-3vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_sata-ahci_3.0-6vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_sata-ata-piix_2.12-4vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_sata-sata-nv_3.5-3vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_sata-sata-promise_2.12-3vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_sata-sata-sil_2.3-3vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_sata-sata-svw_2.3-3vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_scsi-aacraid_1.1.5.1-9vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_scsi-adp94xx_1.0.8.12-6vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_scsi-aic79xx_3.1-5vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_scsi-bnx2i_1.9.1d.v50.1-3vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_scsi-fnic_1.5.0.3-1vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_scsi-hpsa_5.0.0-17vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_scsi-ips_7.12.05-4vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_scsi-lpfc820_8.2.2.1-18vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_scsi-megaraid-mbox_2.20.5.1-6vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_scsi-megaraid-sas_4.32-1vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_scsi-megaraid2_2.00.4-9vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_scsi-mpt2sas_06.00.00.00-5vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_scsi-mptsas_4.23.01.00-5vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_scsi-mptspi_4.23.01.00-5vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_scsi-qla2xxx_901.k1.1-14vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_scsi-qla4xxx_5.01.03.2-3vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_bootbank_uhci-usb-uhci_1.0-3vmw.500.0.0.469512, VMware_locker_tools-light_5.0.0-0.7.515841

Remeber to restart your server when prompted to!