The host shows "reboot required"

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

• After patching ESXi, the host shows "reboot required".
• From /var/run/log/esxupdate.log, it indicates that the host has been patched.
  
  esxupdate[xxxx]: LockerInstaller: Staging completed successfully


• From /var/run/log/vobd.log, it shows that the host has not been rebooted after the patch. If the host had been rebooted, there would be log entries similar to the following.
  
  vobd[xxxx]: [UserLevelCorrelator] xxxxus: [esx.audit.host.boot] Host has booted.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 7.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 8.x

Cause

After patching the host via CLI, the command output will indicate that a host reboot is required. If the host is not rebooted, the UI will show "reboot required". This is not an issue, but simply a notification.

Resolution

Place the host into maintenance mode, and then reboot the host.