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Upgrading VMware ESXi hosts to version 8.0 Update 3b 

In my previous post I updated vCenter to U3c, and now it’s time to update my ESXi hosts.

Notice I am on ESXi 8.0 Update 3, and in this blog I’ll update to ESXi 8.0 Update 3b, which was recently released.

The easiest way to update my ESXi hosts will be to use vSphere Lifecycle Manager (vLCM) to update them at the cluster level, and I’ll be using the classic baselines method. I’m looking at moving to image based management at some point, but for this blog I’ll continue to use baselines.

If anyone is looking to move to image based, this article explains the requirements and steps need to convert a cluster to use vLCM image based management.

The first step is to run a compliance check on the cluster. In the Inventory panel, select the cluster, then go to the Updates tab, and click on Check Compliance.

The compliance scan will run and the results will show in the panel. As seen here, I have 3 hosts out of compliance. Let’s go ahead and remediate this issue and update them.

I already have some predefined attached baselines – host security, critical host patches, and non-critical host patches. These baselines need to be attached to a cluster or host otherwise the baseline(s) will not be applied and the compliance scan will not be able to compare the the host(s) to the baseline(s).

On a side note…baselines and baseline groups can be added/removed in the Lifecycle Manager panel. Adding/removing baselines is a bit out of scope for this blog, but if anyone wants to know more, throw a comment below and I can expand in a separate blog.

I’m going to run all the baselines attached to these hosts in the cluster, so I select all (checkbox), then click “Stage”. This will begin to populate the patches and download

The next window will come up and list every rollup, patch, host extension, etc. to be staged for install.

Review, and click “Stage”.

Now vCenter will begin to download and stage the patches to each host/entity. This will take some time, so sit back and relax…

When all is complete, then it’s time to remediate…simply click “Remediate”

The Remediation window will open up, and click on each section to expand and change options as needed. I can see here that 12 updates will be installed.

If wanted, I can run this remediation at a later time using the scheduling option. Simply check the “run later” box and set the time and date, task name, and description. Otherwise the remediation will run right away.

I can also select or ignore some additional remediation settings like Quick Boot, and Host Health, and I can even choose to ignore unsupported hardware/devices.

I’m not going to select any option there, so will simply click “Remediate” and let it run!

One host at a time will be put into maintenance mode, VM’s will be migrated via vMotion to another host, and once fully evacuated, the target host will be updated and rebooted. When the host comes back up, it will be taken out of maintenance mode and VM’s will vMotion back on to the host. vLCM will then move to the next ready ESXi host in the cluster and repeat the same process.

Monitor the remediation progress through the Task Console.

When the remediation is complete, the updated ESXi build version will show in the Summary panel. I usually check the cluster Update tab again and run a compliance check, and this one came back clean!

If you learned something or I helped you out in some way, please make a comment and let me know. Thanks!

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