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How to Upgrade ESXi 6.0 to 6.5 via CLI [On Line]

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This is a follow-up learning post on a post we did recently, where we have upgraded an ESXi host via an ISO image. Today, we'll learn how to upgrade ESXi 6.0 via Command line interface (CLI). The process of ESXi upgrade has been already documented on this blog, for previous releases (ESXi 5.x > ESXi 6.0), and we used the .ZIP upgrade file. You can read this how-to post here. But today we'll learn How to Upgrade ESXi 6.0 to 6.5 via CLI and we'll do another method which consists of upgrading via a VMware Online depot.

Why would you want to upgrade you ESXi host via VMware online depot? It is easy to upgrade an ESXi host and also, for users who do not have easy access to the GA Offline bundle (Free ESXi users).  You'll need an internet connection on the host you'll want to upgrade. If you have a host which does not have an internet connection, then you can simply use one of the two above.

How to Upgrade ESXi 6.0 to 6.5 via CLI – The steps:

Step 1: Enable SSH and connect to your ESXi host via Putty (or alternative)

Step 2: Enable firewall rule (allow) for web traffic

esxcli network firewall ruleset set -e true -r httpClient

like this…

How to Upgrade ESXi 6.0 to 6.5 via CLI

Step 2: Run this command to see the VMware online depot and the different profiles you can upgrade from.

esxcli software sources profile list -d https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml | grep -i ESXi-6

to list available profiles. (or do just the same but with …”ESXi-6.5″ at the end of the command, to see just the 2 profiles corresponding to ESXi 6.5).

There are Two profiles which interests us.. Let's pickup the one with “no-tools”…

How to Upgrade ESXi 6.0 to 6.5 via CLI

Step 3: Run the upgrade with this command:

Update: For the latest ESXi 6.5 Update 1 run this command instead:

esxcli software profile update -p ESXi-6.5.0-20170702001-standard -d https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml

Or this is the original command for ESXi 6.5.

esxcli software profile update -p ESXi-6.5.0-4564106-no-tools -d https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml

like this….

How to Upgrade ESXi 6.0 to 6.5 via CLIi

Step 4: Re-enable the firewall with this command:

esxcli network firewall ruleset set -e false -r httpClient

Reboot the host to complete the upgrade > Exit the Maintenance mode.

We're done.

Here is a video detailing the steps.

Please note that in the video I only listed the ESXi 6.5 versions from online depot…  so I actually used this command to filter the available online profiles:

esxcli software sources profile list -d https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml | grep -i ESXi-6.5

My video…

You can check all posts about vSphere 6.5 on my vSphere 6.5 dedicated WordPress page.

Installs, migrations, lab…

VMware vSphere 6.5

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About Vladan SEGET

This website is maintained by Vladan SEGET. Vladan is as an Independent consultant, professional blogger, vExpert x16, Veeam Vanguard x9, VCAP-DCA/DCD, ESX Virtualization site has started as a simple bookmarking site, but quickly found a large following of readers and subscribers.

Connect on: Facebook. Feel free to network via Twitter @vladan.

Comments

  1. Terence Choi says

    Thanks for the instructions!
    However, what is different between “no-tools” and “standard”?

  2. Daniel says

    Hi Vladan,
    a great description as always, thank you for your time and show everything step by step!

    Is it possible to make upgrade of ESXi to 6.5 using HP or Dell custom ESXi image?
    Using “VMware online depot” and method from this articles or using “HPE Custom Image for VMware ESXi 6.5 Offline Bundle” zip file.

  3. Vladan SEGET says

    An image profile defines the VIBs which will be installed. A “standard” profile contains VMware tools and a “no-tools” profile has no VMware tools (mostly for autodeploy).

  4. Brian says

    I upgraded two ESXi hosts this method, the first one worked without issue. However, my larger server did upgrade, and after reboot it reports 6.5.0, but when I try to start any VM, I get ”
    Failed – Transport (VMDB) error -45: Failed to connect to peer process.”

    I cannot find any google help for this on ESXi. I removed and re-added the VMX to no avail.

    Need help, any ideas?

  5. BrianV says

    I found the issue with the above error, it was due to Unlocker208 I installed on my hypervisor to allow testing development MacOS images. I removed that and the problem is solved. Hopefully a newly compatible Unlocker becomes available.

  6. Kurre says

    Hi!

    I have HP custom installation and getting the following error.

    esxcli software profile update -p ESXi-6.5.0-4564106-no-tools -d http://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml
    [DependencyError]
    VIB Hewlett-Packard_bootbank_char-hpcru_6.0.6.14-1OEM.600.0.0.2159203 requires vmkapi_2_0_0_0, but the requirement cannot be satisfied within the ImageProfile.
    VIB Hewlett-Packard_bootbank_char-hpilo_600.9.0.2.8-1OEM.600.0.0.2159203 requires com.vmware.driverAPI-9.2.0.0, but the requirement cannot be satisfied within the ImageProfile.
    VIB Mellanox_bootbank_net-mst_2.0.0.0-1OEM.550.0.0.472560 requires com.vmware.driverAPI-9.2.0.0, but the requirement cannot be satisfied within the ImageProfile.
    VIB Hewlett-Packard_bootbank_char-hpilo_600.9.0.2.8-1OEM.600.0.0.2159203 requires vmkapi_2_0_0_0, but the requirement cannot be satisfied within the ImageProfile.
    VIB Hewlett-Packard_bootbank_char-hpcru_6.0.6.14-1OEM.600.0.0.2159203 requires com.vmware.driverAPI-9.2.0.0, but the requirement cannot be satisfied within the ImageProfile.
    VIB Mellanox_bootbank_net-mst_2.0.0.0-1OEM.550.0.0.472560 requires vmkapi_2_0_0_0, but the requirement cannot be satisfied within the ImageProfile.
    Please refer to the log file for more details.

    BR
    Kurre

    • Stas says

      Hello!
      We have same issue with L[root@denver:~] esxcli software profile update -p ESXi-6.5.0-4564106-no-tools -d http://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml
      [DependencyError]
      VIB Avago_bootbank_scsi-megaraid-sas_6.607.06.00-1OEM.500.0.0.472560 requires com.vmware.driverAPI-9.2.0.0, but the requirement cannot be satisfied within the ImageProfile.
      VIB Avago_bootbank_scsi-megaraid-sas_6.607.06.00-1OEM.500.0.0.472560 requires vmkapi_2_0_0_0, but the requirement cannot be satisfied within the ImageProfile.
      Please refer to the log file for more details.
      [root@denver:~] but the requirement cannot be satisfied within the ImageProfile.
      -sh: but: not foundSI 9260-4i:

  7. Greg says

    I tried to update 6.0 to 6.5 HPE using VMware-ESXi-6.5.0-OS-Release-4564106-HP
    E-650.9.6.0.28-Nov2016-depot.zip, but getting huge list of dependencies errors :

    [DependencyError]
    VIB VMW_bootbank_uhci-usb-uhci_1.0-3vmw.650.0.0.4564106 requires com.vmware.driverAPI-9.2.3.0, but the requirement cannot be satisfied within the ImageProfile.
    VIB VMW_bootbank_scsi-fnic_1.5.0.45-3vmw.650.0.0.4564106 requires com.vmware.driverAPI-9.2.3.0, but the requirement cannot be satisfied within the ImageProfile.
    VIB VMW_bootbank_net-mlx4-en_1.9.7.0-1vmw.650.0.0.4564106 requires com.vmware.driverAPI-9.2.3.0, but the requirement cannot be satisfied within the ImageProfile.

    It was just first 3 lines, from 30…How to update HPE then to 6.5 ?

      • Dycell says

        I received the same kind of errors:
        VIB Hewlett-Packard_bootbank_char-hpilo_600.9.0.2.8-1OEM.600.0.0.2159203 requires vmkapi_2_0_0_0, but the requirement cannot be satisfied within the ImageProfile.
        VIB Hewlett-Packard_bootbank_char-hpcru_6.0.6.14-1OEM.600.0.0.2159203 requires vmkapi_2_0_0_0, but the requirement cannot be satisfied within the ImageProfile.
        VIB Hewlett-Packard_bootbank_char-hpcru_6.0.6.14-1OEM.600.0.0.2159203 requires com.vmware.driverAPI-9.2.0.0, but the requirement cannot be satisfied within the ImageProfile.
        VIB Hewlett-Packard_bootbank_char-hpilo_600.9.0.2.8-1OEM.600.0.0.2159203 requires com.vmware.driverAPI-9.2.0.0, but the requirement cannot be satisfied within the ImageProfile.
        Please refer to the log file for more details.

        I removed the corresponding VIBs with:
        esxcli software vib remove –vibname=char-hpcru
        esxcli software vib remove –vibname=char-hpilo

        After that the online update went smooth:
        esxcli software profile update -p ESXi-6.5.0-4564106-standard -d http://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml

        To be clear, I don’t have insight in all my sensors (RAID,etc) anymore.
        For me this isn’t an issue because it’s a lab environment (HP ML350 G5, yes it’s old :))

        • Vladan SEGET says

          Thanks for sharing. Yes, if there are third party VIBs incompatible with vSphere 6.5 then the upgrade fails. This is the only way to upgrade, but yes, you lose some hardware monitoring. It can perhaps change later if the hardware manufacturer can release an updated VIB. -:)

        • n00bita says

          Thanks for this sharing man,
          Here I share to the people what I did and eventually I could update the profile.

          # esxcli software vib remove -n char-hpilo -f
          # esxcli software vib remove -n char-hpcru -f
          # esxcli software vib remove -n ehci-ehci-hcd -f
          # esxcli software vib remove -n net-mst
          # esxcli software vib install -d hpe-esxi6.5uX-bundle-2.6.2-2.zip
          # esxcli software vib update -d ESXi650-201703001.zip

          Thanks a lot !!

  8. Lubos says

    esxcli software profile update -p ESXi-6.5.0-4564106-no-tools -d http://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index
    .xml
    [DependencyError]
    VIB Hewlett-Packard_bootbank_char-hpilo_600.9.0.2.8-1OEM.600.0.0.2159203 requires vmkapi_2_0_0_0, but the requirement cannot be satisfied within the ImageProfile.
    VIB Hewlett-Packard_bootbank_char-hpcru_6.0.6.14-1OEM.600.0.0.2159203 requires vmkapi_2_0_0_0, but the requirement cannot be satisfied within the ImageProfile.
    VIB Hewlett-Packard_bootbank_char-hpcru_6.0.6.14-1OEM.600.0.0.2159203 requires com.vmware.driverAPI-9.2.0.0, but the requirement cannot be satisfied within the ImageProfile.
    VIB Hewlett-Packard_bootbank_char-hpilo_600.9.0.2.8-1OEM.600.0.0.2159203 requires com.vmware.driverAPI-9.2.0.0, but the requirement cannot be satisfied within the ImageProfile.
    Please refer to the log file for more details.

    • Joshua Chung says

      Have you tried to updating the following first?

      HPE ESXi Offline Bundle for VMware vSphere 6.0 Version: 2.6.0(25 Oct 2016)

      http://h20564.www2.hpe.com/hpsc/swd/public/detail?swItemId=MTX_fa5f5a76a766447ea3c1c03401

      (in the version 2.5 installation, the following is mentioned:

      This bundle includes the following software versions:
      hpe-smx-provider-600.03.10.00.13-2768847
      amsHelper-600.10.4.0-22.2494585
      hpe-ilo_600.10.0.0.26-1OEM.600.0.0.2494585
      char-hpcru_6.0.6.14-1OEM.600.0.0.2159203
      hpe-esxi-fc-enablement-600.2.5.20-2494585)

      Disclaimer: I am NOT using a HPE server and I did not try before.

  9. Edward says

    Hi Vlad I successfully updated my host -nesxi 6 via CLi and now want to upgrade to 6.5. I initially built my lab a custom iso with net55-r8168 vibs and when i did the last update it went fine. Please do you know if this vib is included in the 6.5 online upgrade so i dont loose network connectivity when i reboot.

    • Vladan SEGET says

      For lab scenarios. What I do, I usually pick a kind of standard 1Gb NIC (I have one Intel server with Double 1Gb slots) which I plug in the host just to maintain connectivity. The Realtec NICs are desktop hardware… you know…-:) Not sure about that.

  10. Edward says

    Thank you Vlad for the prompt reply. I guess am just a cheap skate 🙂 I have been using them since version esxi 4 and always manage to inject the vibs into the iso when it was no longer supported and to my surprise i had no issues updating to that very latest update of version 6 via CLi without loss of connectivity. I guess i have pay up and buy supported NICS and save myself the hustle. Can you recommend a reasonable one as my 2 host are white boxes with Old Gigabyte motherboards. I have 3 nics per a host.

  11. Edward says

    Thank you very much for your help. You are a star and thanks for the information you share with us, it very helpful.

  13. Julian says

    Thanks Vladan, always great material you post.

    The command in step 2 just hung on me. I tried a few times. When I checked the XML file it is only 6 lines long? Did I miss something or has Vmware moved the file?

    Cheers

    vmware, inc.
    vmw
    vmw-esx-index.xml
    esx/vmw

    VMware ESX
    http://www.vmware.com/depotmanagement/esx

  14. Julien says

    Hi Vlandan,
    the update went succecefully fine and everything working fine,
    one weiried notice is copying to the share file on the file server in the ESXI 6.5 the speed drop to 0MB/s
    can you please advise how to fix this ? or either way to downgrade to 6.0 ?
    thank you

  15. julien says

    Thank you Vladan for your quick answer.
    the VMWARE tools appears to break the speed, I’ve downgraded the tools to 10.0.9 and the problem was fixed.
    just want to share this with others if someone is facing the same issue. please downgrade your Tools

  16. Marcel Luna says

    After all this procedure its good to finalize with:

    esxcli network firewall ruleset set -e false-r httpClient

    before reboot.

  17. Stuart says

    I am a neophyte on ESXi. It’s a small home system been running happily for a couple of years.
    Just two Vms: One Debian and the other NAS4Free(3 x drives attached through host).
    This is a single (SSD) drive with ESXI and the Datastore on the same partition.
    Maybe I made some poor config decisions ?

    I am currently on R6.0.0- 3620759 Update 2

    I used the CLI to upgrade to 6.5.0-4564106-standard
    The upgrade reports success (Skipped VMware_locker_tools-light_6.5.0-0.0.4564106)
    On reboot – the Datastore is no longer present. Rescan does not find it.
    If I try to add it – the disk gets reported as blank and the add utility wants to format the partition (clearly not good)
    Rebooting brings me back to the current version.

    Any thought or suggestions ?

  18. Stuart says

    I have reverted back – sorry I was not clear. In fact – absent a Datasore – it reverts back by itself. i.e. after the first reboot it’s at 6.5 with no datastore – if I reboot again it reverts back to 6.0.

    In one test – I created a USB datastore (while it as at 6.5) and after a reboot it stayed at 6.5 – but still could not see the original Datastore. So I used CTRL + R to get back to 6.0

    The question is how can I move forward to 6.5 ?
    It looks like the partition table is corrupted / unable to be read following the upgrade – yet it reverts back correctly.

    When it’s at 6.6 If I look at the partition table using:
    partedUtil getptbl /dev/disks/…..
    I get back:
    unknown
    7783 255 63 125045424

    The same command in 6.0 gives:
    gpt
    7783 255 63 125045424
    1
    5
    .
    .
    .
    3

    So I’m wondering if I, while I’m at 6.5 should I rebuild the partition table and if so – am I in danger of destroying the host ? I have the vm images downloaded to my desktop – so they are at least safe. Also – do I just need to define the whole disk as a partition i.e. are the partitions that show up in 6.0 just logical (i.e. “created” by ESXi) or are they physical (on the drive itself) ?

  19. Alex Vonk says

    Great instruction.
    There is one cosmetic thing :
    The firewall rule in clear text says httpsClient it should be the httpClient. Without the s.

    esxcli network firewall ruleset set -e true -r httpClient

    Thanks again

  20. Muerte says

    Thanks. Work for me. I change only one, first I download file to server and install (offline).
    One problem is in -d I must write full path to file /vmfs/volume/Datastore/VMware-ESXi-6.5.0-4564106-depot.zip

  21. Ahmet says

    Hello, I’m getting an error !

    esxcli software profile update -p ESXi-6.5.0-4564106-standard
    -d https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xm
    l
    [DependencyError]
    VIB Chilly_bootbank_net-e1001e_1.0.0 requires vmkapi_2_0_0_0, but the requirement cannot be satisfied within the ImageProfile.
    VIB Chilly_bootbank_net-e1001e_1.0.0 requires com.vmware.driverAPI-9.2.0.0, but the requirement cannot be satisfied within the ImageProfile.
    Please refer to the log file for more details.

    What should I do?

    Thanks for attention !

  22. Sebastien Lustig says

    Each time I’m looking for something a little bit new ^^ I take a look to your website !
    Thank you very much for all the time we won 😉

  23. Thierry Kurt says

    Upgraded from ESXi 6.0u3 ISO , Works exelent, no errors after the update , thanks !

  24. E. says

    They should have the build number instead of the date. This is so confusing. Is ‘20170702001’ in ‘ESXi-6.5.0-20170702001-standard’ an American date format or European?

  26. Bruce Garlock says

    Thank you for this. I just wanted to point out that you can narrow down the image list to showing just the 6.5 images by enclosing the grep string in quotes, and adding the .5 to the end:

    [root@srv-reno-esxi2:~] esxcli software sources profile list -d https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml | grep -i “ESXi-6.5”
    ESXi-6.5.0-20170701001s-no-tools VMware, Inc. PartnerSupported
    ESXi-6.5.0-20170104001-no-tools VMware, Inc. PartnerSupported
    ESXi-6.5.0-20170304101-no-tools VMware, Inc. PartnerSupported
    ESXi-6.5.0-20171204001-no-tools VMware, Inc. PartnerSupported
    ESXi-6.5.0-20171204001-standard VMware, Inc. PartnerSupported
    ESXi-6.5.0-20170404001-standard VMware, Inc. PartnerSupported
    ESXi-6.5.0-20170304001-no-tools VMware, Inc. PartnerSupported
    ESXi-6.5.0-20171201001s-no-tools VMware, Inc. PartnerSupported
    ESXi-6.5.0-20171201001s-standard VMware, Inc. PartnerSupported
    ESXi-6.5.0-20170104001-standard VMware, Inc. PartnerSupported
    ESXi-6.5.0-20171004001-standard VMware, Inc. PartnerSupported
    ESXi-6.5.0-20170702001-no-tools VMware, Inc. PartnerSupported
    ESXi-6.5.0-20170702001-standard VMware, Inc. PartnerSupported
    ESXi-6.5.0-20170301001s-no-tools VMware, Inc. PartnerSupported
    ESXi-6.5.0-20171004001-no-tools VMware, Inc. PartnerSupported
    ESXi-6.5.0-4564106-standard VMware, Inc. PartnerSupported
    ESXi-6.5.0-20170304001-standard VMware, Inc. PartnerSupported
    ESXi-6.5.0-20170301001s-standard VMware, Inc. PartnerSupported
    ESXi-6.5.0-20170304101-standard VMware, Inc. PartnerSupported
    ESXi-6.5.0-4564106-no-tools VMware, Inc. PartnerSupported
    ESXi-6.5.0-20170701001s-standard VMware, Inc. PartnerSupported
    ESXi-6.5.0-20170404001-no-tools VMware, Inc. PartnerSupported

  27. Aal says

    Hi, great info but I ran into an issue. I follow your instruction and my ESXi 6 is successfully upgrade the server will show it is now at 6.5. However the problem is if I reboot the host again it will go back to 6.0. I think the upgrade went into memory???

    I try to update via CD or USB key my problem is it doesn’t detect my current install and will not offer an in place. I am running ESXI 6.0.0.0 build 2494585.

    Any ideas why?

    thanks

  28. James Lyda says

    Hi,

    I’m trying to run your commands, as below, and the firewall command works, but the profile update just sits there for long time and seems to time out. not sure if it has anything to do with me adding a block of ipv6 addresses to my server, but I did get it upgraded yesterday (had to wipe due to me being dumb with ipv6 settings.)

    esxcli software profile update -p ESXi-6.5.0-20170702001-standard -d https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml

    Help?

  29. E. says

    If someone is having the issue where it says “No space left on device.”. Go to your vSphere Center > > Configure > System Swap > Enable the swap to use one of yours DataStore.

  30. Dave says

    This process is taking a seriously long time. Hours and hours. Anyone know why the downloads are so insanely slow? I can fetch one of those zip files in less than a second from another machine on the same network.

  31. will says

    Hi Vladan,

    appreciate your site and your helpful articles!

    my current vSphere Client 6.0.0, 5112508
    my current ESXi 6.0.0,3380124
    upgrade to ESXi 6.5.0.update02

    before i try upgrading ESXi i want to clarify a few things first…

    1). which method has the least chance of corrupting one’s installed datastores, esxcli or via iso? i read some users here have had their datastores not show up after upgrade.
    this is a home esxi host and vm’s have been backed up to another server just in case.

    2). can i upgrade straight to the 6.5.0.update02, say versus updating to 6.5.04564106 first then update again to 6.5.0.update02 version?

    3). the windows vSphere exe app is no longer available for esxi 6.5 is it? we now will enter a web address to esxi host?

    4). my home license is for the free version 6.0.0 if that makes a difference?

    tia

    • Vladan SEGET says

      Hi, your first commend needs to be aproved before going live (no need to send it 3 times. -:), I knows, WordPress is tricky about that). Now aproved. To your questions. If you’re on certified hardware (listed on VMware HCL) then you can upgrade directly from 6.0 to 6.5U1 (there isn’t any U2 as far as I know).

      I haven’t heard of “corrupted” datastores after upgrade.

      If you’re just jusing it as a home server and not for production, you can do a “Dry Run” via CLI first.

      yes, use your web browser to your host https://IP_of_your_host/UI

      Your free license should not change (unsure about that). If not you can simply create another MyVMware account to get another Free license.

      Thanks for reading my blog.

  32. will says

    hi Vladan,

    apologies for my ignorance of WordPress and approval time. thanks for letting me know.

    your upgrade instructions went flawless!! updated just fine to 6.5 using ESXi-6.5.0-4564106-standard.

    regarding U2, i had downloaded these 2 iso’s prior to me finding your site searching for various install methods:
    VMware-VMvisor-Installer-6.5.0-4564106.x86_64.iso
    VMware-VMvisor-Installer-6.5.0.update02-8294253.x86_64.iso

    the version “ESXi-6.5.0-4564106-standard” being listed via the “esxcli software sources profile list …” command. the “update02-8294253” not being listed.

    maybe the update02 isn’t supported or something?

    thanks for the “dry run” tip. I will try that when get around to updating to 6.7 & using your instructions.

    my free license didn’t change. it stayed at same key and expiration date=never.

    your blog is fantastic, glad you put it out there for the community.

  33. Rasika Silva says

    I really thank you for a great contribution to the VMware community. This is what exactly knowledge sharing I ever wanted. I am new the VMware and your help much appreciated.

    Keep the good work.

  35. Mike Maynard says

    I have been trying to upgrade from 6.0 to 6.5…

    I keep getting the following error:

    VIB VMware_locker_tools-light_10.2.0.7253323-8169922 requires esx-version >= 6.6.0, but the requirement cannot be satisfied within the ImageProfile.
    Please refer to the log file for more details.

    Any ideas? I would just go to 6.7, but my server cant support it…..