VMware ESXi 5.1 upgrade to 5.1a

1. Upload the patch “ESXi510-201210001.zip” to the ESXi datastore via vSphere client

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/documentLinkInt.do?micrositeID=&popup=true&languageId=&externalID=2034548 

2. Put all VM shutdown

3. Put the ESXi to enter the maintenance mode

4. Use SSH to connect to the ESXi host and run the following command:

esxcli software vib update -d /vmfs/volumes/[DATASTORE]/[PATCH_FILE].zip

e.g. esxcli software vib update -d /vmfs/volumes/DATASTORE1/ESXi510-201210001.zip

Remark: You must put the absolute path of the patch .zip file (e.g. /vmfs/volumes/……./.zip), otherwise you will receive a error like the following:

[MetadataDownloadError]
Could not download from depot at zip:/var/log/vmware/ESXi510-201210001.zip?index.xml, skipping ((‘zip:/var/log/vmware/ESXi510-201210001.zip?index.xml’, ”, “Error extracting index.xml from /var/log/vmware/ESXi510-201210001.zip: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: ‘/var/log/vmware/ESXi510-201210001.zip’”))
url = zip:/var/log/vmware/ESXi510-201210001.zip?index.xml
Please refer to the log file for more details.

5. Once the upgrade is completed, reboot the ESXi host.

6. After the reboot complete, you will see the ESXi bulid number become “Build 880471”

7. Exit the maintenance mode and power on those VM.

Reference:

http://www.sotechdesign.com.au/esxcli-updatepatch-produces-could-not-download-from-depot-error/

http://tinkertry.com/patchesxi50/

VMware ESXi 5.1 upgrade to 5.1a