ESX host upgrade to 4.1 using esxupdate

By Tomi Hakala, on July 14th, 2010 |  10 comments

So vSphere 4.1 is out, here is a quick example how to upgrade ESX 4.0 host to 4.1 using esxupdate on ESX Service Console.

Download pre-upgrade-from-ESX4.0-to-4.1.0-0.0.260247-release.zip and upgrade-from-ESX4.0-to-4.1.0-0.0.260247-release.zip files from vmware.com, you need active support subscription for that.

  1. Copy both files ESX host Service Console
  2. Put host in maintenance mode
  3. Run esxupdate with "update –bundle=/path/to/pre-upgrade-zip-file"
  4. Run esxupdate with "update –bundle=/path/to/upgrade-zip-file"
  5. Reboot
  6. Exit maintenance mode

You can put host in maintenance mode using CLI with following command

# vimsh -n -e /hostsvc/maintenance_mode_enter


Execute pre-upgrade patching

 

# esxupdate update --bundle=pre-upgrade-from-ESX4.0-to-4.1.0-0.0.260247-release.zip  pre-upgrade-from-ESX4.0-to-4.1.0-0.0.26024.. #################################### [100%] Unpacking vmware-esx-esxupdate-4.1.0-0.0.2.. #################################### [100%] Unpacking vmware-esx-uwlibs-4.1.0-0.0.2602.. #################################### [100%] Unpacking glibc-common-2.5-34.2926.vmw.x86.. #################################### [100%] Unpacking glibc-2.5-34.2926.vmw.x86_64.vib   #################################### [100%] Unpacking glibc-2.5-34.2926.vmw.i686.vib     #################################### [100%] Installing glibc-common                      #################################### [100%] Installing glibc                             #################################### [100%] Installing glibc                             #################################### [100%] Installing vmware-esx-uwlibs                 #################################### [100%] Installing vmware-esx-esxupdate              #################################### [100%] Cleaning up vmware-esx-esxupdate             #################################### [100%] Cleaning up vmware-esx-uwlibs                #################################### [100%] Cleaning up glibc-common                     #################################### [100%] Cleaning up glibc                            #################################### [100%] Cleaning up glibc                            #################################### [100%]


Execute upgrade patching

 

# esxupdate update --bundle=upgrade-from-ESX4.0-to-4.1.0-0.0.260247-release.zip Host was not updated, no changes required. Skipping bulletin ESX410-GA-esxupdate; it is installed or obsoleted. Unpacking rpm_vmware-esx-likewise-ad.. ########################################## [100%] ... lots of updated RPM packages ... Cleaning up nss_ldap                   ########################################## [100%]  Running [/usr/sbin/cim-install.sh]... ok. Running [/usr/sbin/vmkmod-install.sh]... ok. Running [esxcfg-boot -b]... ok. The update completed successfully, but the system needs to be rebooted for the changes to be effective.


And after succesful patching reboot ESX host

 

# reboot


To exit from maintenance mode using CLI run

 

# vimsh -n -e /hostsvc/maintenance_mode_exit

And you are done