mirror of
https://github.com/jbowdre/runtimeterror.git
synced 2024-11-14 03:52:19 +00:00
85 lines
No EOL
5.4 KiB
Markdown
85 lines
No EOL
5.4 KiB
Markdown
---
|
|
title: "Upgrading a Standalone vSphere Host With esxcli" # Title of the blog post.
|
|
date: 2022-10-15T07:19:24-05:00 # Date of post creation.
|
|
# lastmod: 2022-10-14T07:19:24-05:00 # Date when last modified
|
|
description: "Using esxcli to upgrade a vSphere host from ESXi 7.x to 8.0." # Description used for search engine.
|
|
featured: false # Sets if post is a featured post, making appear on the home page side bar.
|
|
draft: false # Sets whether to render this page. Draft of true will not be rendered.
|
|
toc: true # Controls if a table of contents should be generated for first-level links automatically.
|
|
usePageBundles: true
|
|
# menu: main
|
|
featureImage: "esxi8.png" # Sets featured image on blog post.
|
|
# featureImageAlt: 'Description of image' # Alternative text for featured image.
|
|
# featureImageCap: 'This is the featured image.' # Caption (optional).
|
|
# thumbnail: "thumbnail.png" # Sets thumbnail image appearing inside card on homepage.
|
|
# shareImage: "share.png" # Designate a separate image for social media sharing.
|
|
codeLineNumbers: false # Override global value for showing of line numbers within code block.
|
|
series: Tips # Projects, Scripts, vRA8
|
|
tags:
|
|
- vmware
|
|
- homelab
|
|
- vsphere
|
|
comment: true # Disable comment if false.
|
|
---
|
|
You may have heard that there's a new vSphere release out in the wild - [vSphere 8, which just reached Initial Availability this week](https://advocacy.vmware.com/Article/Redirect/9cfbc1b1-207f-4885-a520-cc0bfafcd6c0?uc=197618&g=2d17264e-593a-492d-8d91-3a2155e835f1&f=3104867). Upgrading the vCenter in my single-host homelab is a very straightforward task, and using the included Lifecycle Manager would make quick work of patching a cluster of hosts... but things get a little trickier with a single host. I could write the installer ISO to a USB drive, boot the host off of that, and go through the install interactively, but what if physical access to the host is kind of inconvenient?
|
|
|
|
The other option for upgrading a host is using the `esxcli` command to apply an update from an offline bundle. It's a pretty easy solution (and can even be done remotely, such as when connected to [my homelab](/vmware-home-lab-on-intel-nuc-9) via the [Tailscale node running on my Quartz64 ESXi-ARM host](/esxi-arm-on-quartz64/#installing-tailscale)) *but I always forget the commands.*
|
|
|
|
So here's quick note on how I upgraded my lone ESXi to the new ESXi 8 IA release so that maybe I'll remember how to do it next time and won't have to go [Neeva](https://neeva.com/search?q=upgrade%20standalone%20host)'ing for the answer again.
|
|
|
|
### 0: Download the offline bundle
|
|
Downloading the Offline Bundle from [VMware Customer Connect](https://customerconnect.vmware.com/downloads/details?downloadGroup=ESXI800&productId=1345&rPId=95214) yields a file named `VMware-ESXi-8.0-20513097-depot.zip`.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
### 1: Transfer the bundle to the host
|
|
I've found that the easiest way to do this it to copy it to a datastore which is accessible from the host.
|
|
|
|
|
|
### 2. Power down VMs
|
|
The host will need to be in maintenance mode in order to apply the upgrade, and since it's a standalone host it won't enter maintenance mode until all of its VMs have been stopped. This can be easily accomplished through the ESXi embedded host client.
|
|
|
|
### 3. Place host in maintenance mode
|
|
I can do that by SSH'ing to the host and running:
|
|
```commandroot
|
|
esxcli system maintenanceMode set -e true
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
And can confirm that it happened with:
|
|
```commandroot-session
|
|
esxcli system maintenanceMode get
|
|
Enabled
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
### 4. Identify the profile name
|
|
Because this is an *upgrade* from one major release to another rather than a simple *update*, I need to know the name of the profile which will be applied. I can identify that with:
|
|
```commandroot-session
|
|
esxcli software sources profile list -d /vmfs/volumes/nuchost-local/_Patches/VMware-ESXi-8.0-20513097-depot.zip
|
|
Name Vendor Acceptance Level Creation Time Modification Time
|
|
---------------------------- ------------ ---------------- ------------------- -----------------
|
|
ESXi-8.0.0-20513097-standard VMware, Inc. PartnerSupported 2022-09-23T18:59:28 2022-09-23T18:59:28
|
|
ESXi-8.0.0-20513097-no-tools VMware, Inc. PartnerSupported 2022-09-23T18:59:28 2022-09-23T18:59:28
|
|
```
|
|
{{% notice note "Absolute paths" %}}
|
|
When using the `esxcli` command to install software/updates, it's important to use absolute paths rather than relative paths. Otherwise you'll get errors and wind up chasing your tail for a while.
|
|
{{% /notice %}}
|
|
|
|
In this case, I'll use the `ESXi-8.0.0-20513097-standard` profile.
|
|
|
|
### 5. Install the upgrade
|
|
Now for the moment of truth:
|
|
```commandroot
|
|
esxcli software profile update -d /vmfs/volumes/nuchost-local/_Patches/VMware-ESXi-8.0-20513097-depot.zip -p ESXi-8.0.0-20513097-standard
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
When it finishes (successfully), it leaves a little message that the update won't be complete until the host is rebooted, so I'll go ahead and do that as well:
|
|
```commandroot
|
|
reboot
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
And then wait (oh-so-patiently) for the host to come back up.
|
|
|
|
### 6. Resume normal operation
|
|
Once the reboot is complete, log in to the host client to verify the upgrade was successful. You can then exit maintenance mode and start powering on the VMs again.
|
|
|
|
The upgrade process took me about 20 minutes from start to finish, and now I'm ready to get on with exploring [what's new in vSphere 8](https://core.vmware.com/resource/whats-new-vsphere-8)! |