Upgrade ESXi hosts with VSphere

[ceantuco]

Hello Everyone, 

We have a 3 Lenovo server VSphere cluster. Each server is currently running VMware ESXi, 7.0.3u3f, 20036589 which I would like to upgrade to u3p. I downloaded Lenovo's custom image 'VMware-ESXi-7.0.3p-23307199-LNV-S06-20240311.iso'. 

What would be the easiest and safest way to upgrade my hosts? 

Please advise.

Thank you! 

[jsm79]

Same way you installed, mount the ISO to the host, boot to ISO, and it'll detect the existing ESXi install and ask you if you want to upgrade and preserve datastore.

If you want to update without physically accessing the hosts, and don't need any potential Lenovo-related updates that are packaged with the custom ISO, you can download the depot.zip file from https://custommerconnect.vmware.com/patch and copy that .zip to the host's datastore, and update via ESXCLI. Instructions for this method here:

https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/7.0/com.vmware.esxi.upgrade.doc/GUID-A4301ADA-8E02-459D-BF...

[ceantuco]

thanks for your reply. I did not implement the servers and yes, I would rather not have to mount the ISO. 

I found a tutorial on youtube where one can use Vcenter to create a baseline with the latest ISO and then use that to upgrade each host. 

Would that be a better solution than using CLI? I would rather use the Lenovo image in case I need Lenovo related updates. 

Please advise.

Thank you! 

[LittleOne]

and don't forget to check bios & firmwares. A good start point to check the best recipe:

https://datacentersupport.lenovo.com/us/en/solutions/server-os-vmware#recipe

[e_espinel]

Hello.

The easiest and safest way to upgrade ESXi is through the command line.
It is always advisable to use the image or package from the hardware manufacturer, as it includes drivers from each manufacturer that have been verified on their servers.

I attach links to the Lenovo repository and another one on how to upgrade via CLI.

https://vmware.lenovo.com/content/2024_02/Lenovo_Custom_ISO/7.0u3/

https://www.vladan.fr/upgrade-vmware-esxi-to-7-0-u3-via-command-line/

Reminder:
to upgrade an ESXi it must have the VMs powered off (or migrated to another ESXi server) and be in maintenance mode. You must have SSH access and use the root user and its respective password.

[ceantuco]

@e_espinel thank you so much for your explanation and providing the links. The latest Lenovo image available is 7.0.3o and I was looking for 7.0.3p to patch against the recent vulnerability. Should I wait until they release 7.0.3p?

Please advise.

Thank you!

[LittleOne]

you can use the last image, and the apply the last fixes.

[ceantuco]

@LittleOne thanks for your reply. 

[ceantuco]

@e_espinel one more question, the Lenovo link has *.iso and custom offline bundle (*.zip file). The link containing instructions on how to upgrade using CLI uses a zip file containing "-Depot" on its filename. Can I run the following command to upgrade using the Lenovo custom image?

esxcli software sources profile list -d /VMware-ESXi-7.0.3o-22348816-LNV-S05-20231219.zip 

Please advise.

Thank you! 

[e_espinel · Accepted solution]

Hello

The link sent (CLI) is an example not a step by step guide.
Attached is a screenshot of a real update, which I performed reliably.
Please note that the directory where the zip file is located will vary on each server.

with the first command we validate the file and see the name of the profile it contains.
In the second command we use the zip and the profile to apply it.

After this we can apply other patch packages obtained from the VMware repository.

https://customerconnect.vmware.com/patch

Remember that: all VMs must be turned off or migrated to another hots, the host that we are going to update must be in maintenance mode, the patches are applied with the user root from an SSH connection, after running the command to apply the patches you must restart the server and verify that all is well.

From time to time it is advisable to apply the patch packages generated by the server manufacturer, but you can also apply VMware's own patch packages, these patch packages may or may not come with drivers for the server's hardware devices.

You should also apply the server hardware firmware update at least once a year, until new versions are released.

[ceantuco]

@e_espinel thank you so much for your detailed response. I will try the upgrade on my lab and then I will apply to production.