Upgrading ESXi to 8.x using the vCenter built-in LCM (VUM)

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

This article provides the steps to upgrade ESXi hosts to version 8.x using the vCenter built-in LCM (VUM). Moving from ESXi 7.x to 8.x is a major version upgrade, which requires an upgrade baseline rather than a patch baseline.

Environment

ESXi 7.x
ESXi 8.x
vCenter 7.x
vCenter 8.x

Cause

Upgrading to vSphere 8.x

Resolution

Upgrade vs. Patch Baselines

• Upgrade Baseline: Required for major version transitions (e.g., 7.x to 8.x). Use the ESXi 8.0 ISO image.
• Patch Baseline: Used only for minor updates/patches within the same major version (e.g., 8.0.x to 8.0.y).

Steps to upgrade using an ISO (Upgrade Baseline):

1. Click the Lifecycle Manager button under the menu in the upper left.
2. Go to the Imported ISOs tab.
3. Click Import ISO.
4. Select the ESXi 8.0 ISO file and click Import.
5. Select the Baselines tab.
6. Click New > Baseline to create the baseline.
7. Select the imported ISO.
8. Click Next and Finish.
9. Navigate to Inventory > Hosts and Clusters.
10. Select the host or cluster to update and click the Updates tab.
11. Click Attach > Attach Baseline or Baseline Group.
12. Select the newly created baseline and click Attach.
13. Select the baseline in the list and click Remediate.

Steps to apply patches (Patch Baseline):

1. Click the Lifecycle Manager button in the menu.
2. Click Action > Import Updates.
3. Select the .zip bundle and click Import.
4. Select the Baselines tab.
5. Click New > Baseline to create a patch baseline.
6. Select Patch and follow the prompts.
7. Filter by "esx" patches to select the required bundle.
8. Click Next and Finish.
9. Navigate to the Updates tab of the target host or cluster.
10. Click Attach > Attach Baseline or Baseline Group.
11. Select the patch baseline and click Attach.
12. Select the baseline and click Remediate.

Additional Information

For downloading specific releases, see Download Broadcom products and software