There are several methods to install asynchronous drivers on ESXi/ESX 4.x. Some of these methods are applicable to only ESX or ESXi. Some of these methods copy the
offline-bundle.zip
file to the ESX host over the network or using a local CD-ROM. You must choose the appropriate method for your environment.
During a new ESX installation
- Place the ESX installation DVD in the DVD drive of the host.
- Restart the host.
- Accept the terms of the license agreement.
- Select a keyboard type.
- When prompted for custom drivers, click Yes to install custom drivers.
- Click Add to eject the ESX installation DVD.
- Place the supplemental driver CD in the DVD drive of the ESX host.
Note: During the ESX installation, a supplemental driver install CD is provided.
- Select the driver module to import drivers to the ESX host.
- Click Next.
- When prompted to load the system drivers, click Yes.
- After loading the driver module, continue installing ESX.
Note: After the drivers are installed, you are prompted to remove the driver CD and re-insert the ESX installation DVD.
Existing ESX installation using esxupdate and a CD
An existing ESX host can mount the Async driver CD and install the offline bundles within using the
esxupdate
utility.
- Log in to the ESX host using an account with administrator privileges, such as root.
- Enter maintenance mode.
- Place the driver CD in the CD-ROM drive of the ESX host.
- Mount the driver CD through console of the host or with an SSH session using the command:
mount -o loop -t iso9660 isofilename /mnt/cdrom/
- Navigate to
cd_mount_point/offline-bundle/
and locate the offline-bundle.zip
file. - Run this command to install drivers using the offline bundle:
esxupdate --bundle=/mnt/cdrom/offline-bundle/offline-bundle.zip update
- Reboot the ESX host.
- Exit maintenance mode.
Existing ESXi/ESX installation using esxupdate and Datastore Browser
An existing ESXi/ESX host can install offline bundles that have been copied from the Async release ISO to the ESXi/ESX host.
- Extract the contents of the ISO file.
- Identify the
offline-bundle.zip
file(s). - Using the Datastore Browser, upload the
offline-bundle.zip
file(s) to an ESXi/ESX host's datastore. - Log in to the ESXi/ESX host using an account with administrator privileges, such as root.
- Enter maintenance mode.
- Navigate to
/vmfs/volumes/datastorename/
and locate the offline-bundle.zip
file. - Run this command to install drivers using the offline bundle:
esxupdate --bundle=offline-bundle.zip update
- Reboot the ESXi/ESX host.
- Exit maintenance mode.
Existing ESXi/ESX Installation using vihostupdate and a CD
An ESXi/ESX host can be updated remotely using the
vihostupdate
utility, which is part of the vSphere CLI. For more information on
vihostupdate
, see the
vSphere Command-Line Interface Installation and Reference Guide.
- Power on the ESXi/ESX host.
- Place the driver CD in the CD-ROM drive of the host where either the vSphere CLI package is installed or vMA is hosted.
- Mount the driver CD.
- Navigate to
cd_mount_point/offline-bundle/
and locate the offline-bundle.zip
file. - Put the system into maintenance mode using this command:
vicfg-hostops conn_options operation enter
- Run this vihostupdate command to install drivers using the offline bundle:
vihostupdate conn_options --install --bundle offline-bundle.zip
For example:
vihostupdate --server myesxhost --username root --password mypassword --install --bundle driver-offline-bundle.zip
Note: You may have to supply the .pl
extension in the above command if the script is not recognized as a Perl script. For example: vihostupdate.pl
. This is not necessary if you are using the vMA.
- To exit maintenance mode, run this command:
vicfg-hostops conn_options operation exit
- Reboot the host for the new driver to become effective.
Existing ESXi/ESX installation using vihostupdate and a web-based depot
An ESXi/ESX host can be updated remotely using the
vihostupdate
utility, which is part of the vSphere CLI. For more information on
vihostupdate
, see the
vSphere Command-Line Interface Installation and Reference Guide.
- Power on the ESXi/ESX host.
- Place the
offline-bundle.zip
file on a web server accessible to the ESXi/ESX host. - Put the system into maintenance mode using this command:
vicfg-hostops conn_options operation enter
- Run the
vihostupdate
command to install drivers using the offline bundle:
vihostupdate conn_options --install --bundle http://webserver/path/offline-bundle.zip
For example:
vihostupdate --server myesxhost --username root --password mypassword --install --bundle http://esxpatches/depot/driver-offline-bundle.zip
- To exit the maintenance mode, run this command:
vicfg-hostops conn_options operation exit
- Reboot the host for the new driver to become effective.
Existing ESXi/ESX installation using Update Manager
To install the async driver:
- Extract the contents of the async driver
.zip
file. - Identify the
offline-bundle.zip
file(s). - From vCenter Server, click Home > Update Manager.
- Click the Patch Repository tab.
- Click the Import Patches link at the top right of the screen.
- Click Browse for the offline-bundle.zip file.
- Click OK.
- Click Upload.
Note: If a certificate warning displays, click Ignore.
- Click Finish. The async driver is added to the patch repository.
- Create a Host Extension baseline and remediate the ESXi/ESX host.
Note: For more information, see the vSphere Update Manager Documentation.
Adding third-party device drivers to ESXi 4.1 hosts is performed through the use of the VIBDDI tool. For more information, see Adding third-party device drivers to ESXi 4.1 (2003316).