I was cleaning out a few of my to-do items (list just keeps getting longer everyday) this morning and there was a question that I received a few weeks back asking how to retrieve the list of Image Profiles for a given ESXi patch. This is actually quite easy and you will want to use ESXCLI.
Note: The examples shown below is using ESXCLI on the ESXi Shell, but these commands can be execute remotely as well using ESXCLI or through PowerCLI with Get-EsxCli cmdlet.
To list the available Image Profiles for an ESXi patch, run the following command (ensure you substitute the full path to your ESXi patch):
esxcli software sources profile list -d /vmfs/volumes/datastore1/ESXi510-201212001.zip
To get more details on a particular Image Profile, run the following command and specify the -p for the specific Image Profile:
esxcli software sources profile get -d /vmfs/volumes/datastore1/ESXi510-201212001.zip -p ESXi-5.1.0-20121204001-no-tools
To install/update a specific Image Profile, run the following command with the Image Profile name:
esxcli software profile update -d /vmfs/volumes/datastore1/ESXi510-201212001.zip -p ESXi-5.1.0-20121204001-no-tools
If you just want to install the ESXi patch, run the following command which will install the esx-base Image Profile by default which will include everything:
esxcli software vib update -d /vmfs/volumes/datastore1/ESXi510-201212001.zip
To check for the Image Profile you have installed on your ESXi host, run the following command:
esxcli software profile get
Here are some additional resources for ESXi patch management that may also be useful:
- Quickest Way to Patch an ESX/ESXi Using the Command-line
- Update a Host with Image Profiles
- Understanding ESXi Patches - Size & Patch Bundles
- A Pretty Cool Method of Upgrading to ESXi 5.1
Hi William,
I'm always confused with software vib update and software profile update and when to use them.
“If you just want to install the ESXi patch, run the following command which will install the esx-base Image Profile by default which will include everything”
Based on the above lines, it seems like i can always go with software vib update method am i right? May i know what is the situation that we want to update the image profile?
My current ESXi 6.0 host showing (Updated) ESXi-6.0.0-2494585-standard while the version shown is 6.0.0 Update 2 (Build 4192238) which is bugging me.
Thank you
Thank you so much for the beautiful article. It has helped me on many occasions 🙂
Excellent documentation. Thanks