How would you apply a BIOS update for a Dell M610 blade with VMware ESXi installed?

The M610 (and all Dell 11G or later servers) has a built in UEFI based utility called the Unified Server Configurator (USC) that you can boot into (by hitting F10 at startup) that includes the ability to download and upgrade the BIOS. There are full instructions on how to use it in this Dell support document. The appropriate OMSA Live CD will do the trick but keeping track of the correct versions for all platforms can be a pain and the USC is the direction Dell intends to go for all hardware management updates in future.

use dell omsa live cd from dell.. it works very well for me [ although i use only poweredge rack servers, not blades ], is based on cent-os and lets you apply all regular firmware/bios updates meant to be run redhat.

This link help me a lot to understand the process.

In fact:

Install on your desktop Dell Repository Manager (Dell Repository Manager_1.1.70.msi actually)

With that, generate a SUU ISO (you have to install SUU plugin in the wizard for that)

• with this ISO, you can use it to update via UEFI system services (F10 at boot for me)
• If you don't have, Dell Systems Build and Update Utility (cdu_1.6_core_173_A01.iso actually) is a live CD you can boot in, and can update your system as the same way as "system services"