Are HP VIBDepot ESXi bundle packages incremental?

[Thomas_SG]

I am about to use VMware Update Manager to patch one of my ESXi 5.5 hosts. When I look at the compliance view, I see that several HP bundle packages are missing. As example, I see the following missing packages

hpe-esxi5.5uX-bundle-2.5.0-19
hpq-esxi5.5uX-bundle-2.4-16
hpq-esxi5.5uX-bundle-2.3-17

Do I have to install all these packages, or does the latest one include all previously updates?

[Thomas_SG]

Are nobody here running VMware or are you not patcing your servers?

[parnassus]

I'm interested in knowing that too...

P.S.

Moderately OT (I haven't VMware Update Manager): What was/is your update procedure/steps when you've to deal with the update of HP ProLiant Server Firmware, (ESXi related) Drivers and (both HP Custom and VMware) ESXi components?

I mean...what and how you did as first step and what order (Firmware/Drivers/VMware ESXi VIB) you followed as best practice?

[Thomas_SG]

I have always used VUM for updating my ESX servers.
Since my servers are HP ProLiant and I initially used the HP custom image when deploying my servers, I have added the following to VUM to ensure I get all HP specific updates
http://vibsdepot.hpe.com/index.xml

I am a bit behind on my update schedule and that's why I now have multiple bundle packages from HP; hence my question.

[parnassus]

I noticed that on the HPE "May 2016 VMware FW and Software Recipe" technical white paper, looking at what "Software updates are required" for every proposed vSphere 5.X Update Y OS version, the latest released bundle (no matter if packaged to be delivered as "Offline bundle updates" or as "VUM online updates") is always suggested (and that's true no matter if we look for vSphere 5.5 Update 1, 2 or 3 OS versions or if we look for vSphere 5.1 Update 1, 2 or 3 OS versions)...so - at present time - that means the April 2016 Offline Bundle available here:

http://vibsdepot.hpe.com/hpe/apr2016/esxi-550-bundles/

or the April 2016 VUM Online Bundle available here:

http://vibsdepot.hpe.com/hpe/apr2016/index.xml

That said, this make me think that the latest bundle contains all the previously released (bundle) updates you listed (Dec 2015, etc.).

P.S.

As example, the hpe-esxi5.5uX-bundle-2.5.0-19 VIB (the HPE ESXi 5.5 Management Bundle 2.5.0-19) provides the latest:

• HPE Common Information Model (CIM) Providers
• HPE Integrated Lights-Out (iLO) driver
• HPE Compaq ROM Utility (CRU) driver
• HPE Agentless Management Service (AMS)

and the VIB itself includes these files:

• amsHelper-550.10.4.0-22.1198610.vib
• char-hpcru-5.5.6.6-1OEM.550.0.0.1198610.x86_64.vib
• hpe-smx-provider-550.03.10.00.13-1198610.vib
• hpe-esxi-fc-enablement-550.2.5.20-1198610.vib
• hpe-ilo-550.10.0.0.26-1OEM.550.0.0.1198610.x86_64.vib

If you look at the same VIB as of December 2015 each provided file is still "nominally" the same (not so it is its build version which is older, except for the char-hpcru-5.5.6.6-1OEM.550.0.0.1198610.x86_64.vib file which looks the same)...I say "nominally" due to the HP vs HPE rebranding or due to file renaming:

• hp-ams-550.10.3.0-15.1198610.vib
• char-hpcru-5.5.6.6-1OEM.550.0.0.1198610.x86_64.vib
• hp-smx-provider-550.03.09.00.15-1198610.vib
• hp-esxi-fc-enablement-550.2.4.6-1198610.vib
• char-hpilo-550.9.0.2.3-1OEM.550.0.0.1198610.x86_64.vib

Interensting could be to see a comparison of their relationships (what they provide/require and their dependeces and conflicts). See attached XML files.

[Thomas_SG]

I can confirm that these packages are indeed incremental.
I patched my ESX hosts today.
I started by only applying "HPE ESXi 5.5.0 Complete Bundle Update 12.08.15". Once the ESX host rebooted, the older HP bundle packages were no longer required. Clearly a confirmation that these packages are incremental.

And as the Complete Bundle Update description says, it contains the latest HPE ESXi Management Provider bundle, HPE ESXi Utility bundle and the HPE ESXi NMI bundle.

[DanRobinson]

FYI, you can also go to vibsdepot.hpe.com and go to the Download section for HPE Customized ESXi files.

Follow the link, pick your version, and when you land on the My VMware site, you can not only download an ISO of that version with the offline bundle and HPE drivers all pre-added in, but you can also download the ZIP version which is compatible with VUM.

This way you can push out an updated version of ESXi (U2 to U3 for instance) AND have all the right HPE Drivers and Bundles bakes in ahead of time.