Upgrading ESXi through "esxcli vib update" method fails

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi
• VMware vSphere ESXi 6.0
• VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0
• VMware vSphere ESXi 8.0

Issue/Introduction

• Upgrading ESXi through esxcli vib install or update command fails. 
• You see error message similar to:
  

   [DependencyError]
   VIB VMware_bootbank_esx-base_6.7.0-1.25.xxxxxxx requires esx-update >= 6.7.0-1.25, but the requirement cannot be satisfied within the ImageProfile.
   VIB VMware_bootbank_esx-base_6.7.0-1.25.xxxxxxx requires esx-update << 6.7.0-1.26, but the requirement cannot be satisfied within the ImageProfile.
   Please refer to the log file for more details

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 6.x

VMware vSphere ESXi 7.x

VMware vSphere ESXi 8.x

 

Cause

This issue is caused by a dependency between esx-base VIB and the new esx-update VIB.

Resolution

To resolve this issue, follow any of the following two methods:

1. Using profile update command:

• To get a list of available profiles within a path use the command below:

esxcli software sources profile list -d <location of ZIP file> 

• Run this command to update the host:

esxcli software profile update - p <profile name> -d <location of ZIP file> 

 

Example:

# esxcli software profile update -p ESXi-6.7.0-2018xxxxxxx-standard -d /vmfs/volumes/datastore1/update-from-esxi6.7-6.7_update01.zip 
 

2. Using VIB install command:

• Run this command to update the host:

esxcli software vib install -n <vibname1> -n <vibname2> ... -d <location of ZIP file> 

 

Note: vibnames are from the patch/bulletin to be installed.

 

Example:

# esxcli software vib install -n esx-base -n vsan -n vsanhealth -n esx-update -d /vmfs/volumes/datastore1/update-from-esxi6.7-6.7_update01.zip

 

NOTE: 

The esxcli software vib update and esxcli software vib install commands are not supported for upgrade operations.

 

Reference document:

• Update a Host with Individual VIBs

Additional Information

Reference documents:

 

Running the esxupdate command fails with dependency error: Requested VIB rpm_vmware-esx-vmkernel64_4.0.0-2.17.261974@i386 conflicts with the host
Upgrading to ESXi 6.7 and a subsequent rollback to version 6.5 or earlier fails