How to patch vmware-esxi via vcenter

Our company is using a single vmware-esxi host (vmware-esxi v6.5) which hasn't been patched since installation. The VMs are a windows server and a vcenter appliance.

Using Update Manager I attached the baseline "critical host patches (predefined)" and many patches are listed, but it doesn't seem possible to install them. Almost all require maintenance mode on the host.

To put the host in maintenance mode I have to power down the VMs - including vcenter!

Is it possible to patch this host via VCenter? Thanks for any ideas.

Solution 1:

You're right, you need each host to be in maint mode as it's highly likely the patches will require a reboot. Obviously in your single-host situation that's going to be difficult.

Someone here will probably come up with a far more elegant solution but I believe you're going to have to work directly with the host via the DCUI or via SSH and manually install the patch bundles, then shutdown your VMs and manually reboot the host to take those bundles onboard.

Perhaps a better solution would be to buy a second host, even if it's just running on a free/temporary licence - it'd let you migrate the VMs to it, patch your existing host and then move the VMs back to that. This second host doesn't have to be the same specification as your main host, just enough CPU, memory and storage to hold the VMs for a little while.