Update host without Update Manager by using esxcli

This blog post describes how to update respectively install VIBs on hosts without using VMware Update Manager (VUM). Instead of VUM we will use esxcli. esxcli software is a really powerful framework which you can use to keep your hosts up-to-date, install and remove bundles. The commands below are using real repositories and vSphere Installation Bundles (VIBs). These examples should work fine for ESXi 5.x. Do not forget to set maintenance mode before updating a host.

• First, enable http-Client in local firewall to allow access to internet resources
  esxcli network firewall ruleset set -e true -r httpClient
• If you are unsure, if the ruleset is enabled or not, run the this command and remember the result to switch back at the end
  esxcli network firewall ruleset list -r httpClient
• Query installed VIBs on the local host
  esxcli software vib list
• List VIBs that can be updated out of the default VMware repository
  esxcli software sources vib list -d https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml |grep -i update
• or list VIBs that belong to a specific build-number
  esxcli software sources vib list -d https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml |grep 2143827
• Update the base-image
  esxcli software vib update -d https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml --vibname esx-base
• Update vmware tools package
  esxcli software vib update -d https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml --vibname tools-light
• Do these steps for the VIBs you want to install. After the installation you see the previous version (removed) and the just installed version. You can also see if you have to reboot the host.
• Looking for still available VIBs for installation e.g.:
  esxcli software sources vib list -d https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml |grep -i update |grep 550

• You can also check a whole profile. A profile is more or less just a set of VIBs. In this example looking for 5.5-profiles
  esxcli software sources profile list -d https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml |grep 5.5
• Check the content of a profile. Unfortunately these images are named after dates instead of built-numbers.
  esxcli software sources profile get -d https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml -p ESXi-5.5.0-20141004001-standard
• To compare installed versions to a profile
  esxcli software profile validate -d https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml -p ESXi-5.5.0-20141004001-standard
• To install a whole profile
  esxcli software profile update -d https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml -p ESXi-5.5.0-20141004001-standard

• To check Update process, check the log-file: /var/log/esxupdate.log
• Finally, do not forget to disable http-Client in local firewall, if it was enabled at the beginning.
  esxcli network firewall ruleset set -e false -r httpClient

Some words for HP VIBs
These days there are strange behavours when updating HP VIBs. So I could not update the VIB for HP-AMS using the command to update all HP VIBs on the host:

esxcli software vib update -d http://vibsdepot.hp.com/index.xml

I got an [VibDownloadError]-error. Coping the vib locally and running the command to install VIBs, previous copied to local disk

esxcli software vib update --viburl /tmp/hp-vib/hp-ams-550.10.0.1-07.1198610.vib

works fine. After this, esxcli software vib update -d http://vibsdepot.hp.com/index.xml works without any problems.