vSphere 6.5 Update 1

A couple of days ago VMware released version 6.5 Update 1 for some of their products:

• vCenter Server: Link
• ESXi: Link, Link to HPE Custom Image
• Site Recovery Manager (SRM): Link

I was waiting for Update 1 of the vSphere Stack for a while now, and the List of bugfixes has quite a few entries with critical bug fixes.

Installation Update 1 on 6.5 VCSA

The Update process is incredibly fast. Attach the .iso to your VCSA VM. Go the VAMI (https://:5480) and select the Update Tab. Choose to check for Updates on CD-ROM and then install the updates.

After about 4 minutes the installation is done and you’ll need to manually reboot the appliance. That’s it you’re done.

Upgrading from vSphere 6.0 Update 3 is now fully supported with 6.5 Update 1.

Upgrading ESXi hosts to 6.5 Update 1

With ESXi hosts there are many roads to choose from.

• Patch using VMware Update Manager
• Upgrade using VMware Update Manager (Upload the iso file)
• Re-Install using the latest image and kickstart script

In my Lab where we still use HPE G7 hardware (I know, it’s not supported, but it still works and it’s a lab..) I had a couple of problems. Using the iso with VUM did not work. Next I got a purple screen when doing a fresh install with the latest HPE Image (see link above). The exception was of type 14 (seems to be a page fault according to VMware KBs) so I’m not sure if it’s because the hardware is not supported anymore or if I have some hardware issues.

Anyways, I’ll be working on that and I’m sure I’ll get it to work and update my findings here.

Upgrading SRM to 6.5 Update 1

For this upgrade to work you’ll need to be on the 6.1.2 Build at least. Upgrading from a 6.0 Installation is not supported because you will run into problems. See the Release Notes for further details.