Apply Patch to VMware ESXi 6.7 in SimpliVity

[gherrerair]

Hello!

A doubt has arisen for me to perform the application of a VMware patch on an ESXi on a SimpliVity node which will only be a hop up.
The issue here is I have is about the "Image Profile" that is displayed at the vCenter level on the ESXi host which is as follows:

The name it shows is "(Updated) HPE-ESXi-6.7.0-Update3-Gen9plus-670.U3.10.6.0.83-customized" and I need to apply a patch upwards which is "ESXi670-202011001" with build number 17098360.

So, once I apply that patch will it still show me the same name it currently has or will it apply a change over the name with the patch to be applied?
Since I would not like to change this name and keep the same. This is because we previously applied that patch on three SimpliVity nodes and they all keep that name in the "Image Profile". So, I will apply that same patch on an additional node and I would like it to keep that name.

I read somewhere that the profile that has the patch is possible to modify it, I would like to know if this is possible? Also, the support to apply the patch and keep the same relationship as the other nodes.

Thank you,
Giovanni Herrera

[Sanika]

Hi gherrerair,

From my understanding, you are concerned about applying a patch to an ESXi host & wanted to confirm if this would change the existing name of the image profile.

Usually, when you apply a patch, it updates the underlying ESXi software with the changes and ideally should not affect the image profile name.

In your case scenario, when you apply the "ESXi670-202011001" patch with build number 17098360, it will only apply the necessary patch changes and the image profile name would still remain the same which is "(Updated) HPE-ESXi-6.7.0-Update3-Gen 9 plus-670.U3.10.6.0.83-customized."

I would suggest you to continue applying the patch as usual and the image profile name should remain the same if you wish to retain consistency with the other nodes.

I found multiple supporting documents on the VMware community forum where users have reported that their image profile names have not been updated post applying the patches.

Please find the links below where this issue has been discussed:
https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/Image-profile-not-updating-after-an-patch-upgrade-with-build/td-p/2945011
https://communities.vmware.com/t5/vSphere-Upgrade-Install/ESX-ESXi-Version-and-Image-Profile-do-not-match-after-using/td-p/2672042

I would still suggest you to test this out on a POC environment before performing this on any critical environment.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Sanika.

[gherrerair]

@Sanika 

Hi, there

I have performed tests by deploying a SimpliVity node to apply the mentioned patch and once I rebooted the node and started I could notice that the name in the "Image Profile" section I mention had a change and applied the name of the VMware ESXi patch.

So, I am afraid that when applying the patch it made the change that I did not want. I share the image of the "Image Profile":

Also, this patch was applied with the command "esxcli software profile update <esxi-patch>" which according to the information made about the command this only adds the corresponding "vibs" and applies the patch, however, it does not change or overwrite the current on the already active ESXi. I got this information about the upgrade from the HPE OmniStack 4.2.0 for vSphere Upgrade Guide  file in "Appendix B: VMware ESXi manual upgrade" which is page 53.

I would like to know if there is any official or corresponding method with the SimpliVity theme to be able to apply such a patch. Otherwise, I guess I will wait to apply the upgrade through the "SimpliVity Upgrade Manager" tool.

Regards,
Giovanni Herrera

[Aditya_A]

Hi,

In order to upgrade to ESXi 6.7 EP17 (17098360) from your current build, you will have to first upgrade to ESXi 6.7 EP16 (Q8A57-11113_hpe-esxi6.7u3ep16-16773714-670.U3.10.6.0.83-offline-bundle.zip) using Upgrade Manager or esxcli.

Once done, you can then upgrade to ESXi 6.7 EP17 by downloading the image ESXi670-202011001.zip from VMware patch download portal, however you can't use Upgrade Manager for this as it's a patch and Upgrade Manager won't be able to upgrade to this build, you can only use esxcli.

Now, if you want to check which name it's going to pick up, you can upload the zip to a datastore and obtain output of the command: "esxcli software sources profile list -d <datastore path leading to the zip>". It will show the name of the profile which the image will contain. That's the name that will be displayed once you go for the upgrade. To upgrade, you can use the esxcli software profile update or the software vib update command.

Ref: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/6.7/com.vmware.esxi.upgrade.doc/GUID-E51C5DB6-F28E-42E8-ACA4-0EBDD11DF55D.html

[gherrerair]

Hi there!

I have performed the upgrade exercise in a lab and got the result I expected which was that it changed the name of the "Image Profile" which is not what I want.

However, this exercise was done by applying the patch with the command:

"esxcli software profile update -d <depot_location> -p <depot_location>"

So, it did change the text displayed in the "Image Profile". My doubt is now if using the following command:

"esxcli software vib update -d <depot_location> -p <depot_location>"

Is it possible that it does not change the text it shows, since from what I understand if the first command is used what it generates is the complete update of the ESXi and the corresponding vibs, but if the second command is used it will only apply the change of the vibs and apply the patch as such but not in a higher profile.

Could you solve this question for me?

Thank you,
Giovanni Herrera

[gustenar]

@gherrerair 

Try these commands instead: 

esxcli software sources profile list -d <location of offline .zip bundle> 

Once you have the profile name. Use this command to update: 

esxcli software profile update -d <location of the offline .zip bundle> -p <profile name>

Your server must be on Maintenance Mode prior to attempting this operation. 

Hope it helps.