Update a standalone ESXi server

Even though it’s not the proper way to do it in production, sometimes it’s just nice to be able to update ESXi from SSH, especially an individual instance at home or in a lab.

First head over to the awesome list from Virten.net and copy the latest Image Profile name (or reference the table at VMware’s KB and do a little googling to find the Image Profile for the latest release) available for your hardware.

Then, plug in the Image Profile into this one-liner, and hit enter:

esxcli software profile update -d https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml -p ~~~FULL-PROFILE-NAME-HERE~~~ --dry-run

Make sure everything looks kosher, and then remove the --dry-run portion at the end, and re-run it.

Done!