I was trying to find a serial number for an HP (HPE) Proliant Server, and the System Management Agent wasn’t displaying the info and I didn’t have access to the iLO. I found the following workaround from a user on a forum.
Open a commands prompt and type:
wmic /node:%computername% bios get serialnumber
To find the Serial of a remote computer, type the following:
wmic /node:HOSTNAME bios get serialnumber
While attempting to upgrade a ESXi host from 6.0.0.3073146 to the latest 6.x build (6.0.0.update02-4192238) via CLI (see my post here about pathcing via CLI)
I got the following error:
[DependencyError]
VIB VMware_bootbank_esx-base_6.0.0-2.43.4192238 requires vsan >= 6.0.0-2.43, but the requirement cannot be satisfied within the ImageProfile.
VIB VMware_bootbank_esx-base_6.0.0-2.43.4192238 requires vsan << 6.0.0-2.44, but the requirement cannot be satisfied within the ImageProfile.
Please refer to the log file for more details.
The exact build on the error may be different on yours, but the issue is the same. I found this KB from VMware and decided to make a post that gets right to the point: VMware KB
This error occurs because the newest version of VSAN (which is built into ESXi) is looking for a specific base hypervisor build (esx-base). In order to run the update successfully, you’ll need to define the update profile for the VIB you are using. Its actually a lot easier than it may sound.
First, lets find the software profile the VIB you will be using contains. Run the following command, pointing the destination to the .zip VIB you uploaded to a datastore on the host.
esxcli software sources profile list -d <location_of_the_esxi_zip_bundle_on_the_datastore>
It will output something similiar to this:
That Name is the Profile you will need to add to your update command.
So in my case, the update command would look like this (highlighting added for emphasis):
esxcli software profile update -d /vmfs/volumes/datastore1/VMware-ESXi-6.0.0.update02-4192238.x86_64-Dell_Customized-offline-bundle-A04.zip -p Dell-ESXi-6.0U2-4192238-A04
It should update and finish with no errors:
The final step is to issue a reboot command, and you are done.
Most clients using VMware patch and update their vSphere Hosts using VMware Update Manager or VUM. This provides an easy GUI to find needed updates and apply them to your ESXi Hosts. Once in awhile, VUM has issues patching hosts. And to use VUM, you need a valid licensed vCenter. So those of you using the Free ESXi or need to patch hosts not registered to your vCenter, the easiest way to patch your hosts is through the SSH Command Line (CLI). I will run this process down, step by step.
– Login to your free MyVmware.com account and download the latest patches
http://www.vmware.com/patchmgr/download.portal
– In the portal, select the ESXi (embedded and installable), and select your version of ESXi you need to patch. Then download the latest update. The patches are cumulative, so the latest update will include all previous patches as well.
– Shutdown your VMs using the Windows vSphere Client and put the host into maintenance mode.
– Enable SSH on the host by selecting the host in the vSphere Client, clicking on Configuration, Security Profile, and click Properties in the top right hand corner. Open SSH and click the Start button.
– Using the vSphere Client, browse to a local Datastore and upload the downloaded patch to the root of the Datastore, (or a folder of your choosing).
– Using Putty or some other SSH tool, type in the IP address of your host, and login with the “root” user.
– Now on to patching the host. Type the following command, replacing this example path with the patch of where you uploaded the patch (in zip format).
esxcli software vib update -d /vmfs/volumes/<your_datastore>/<name_of_the_patch_you_uploaded.zip
– Wait a few minutes, after which you should see a bunch of text showing the status of the update.
– Finally, type “reboot” and you should be all updated after the reboot!
