Yay, it's download day! Just in time for my planned home lab rebuild. Some minor features are new, some stuff is just fixed, so be sure to start with kicking off those big downloads then reading the release notes. Oh, yeah, back up all your stuff, before you consider updating. And you are supposed to update your vCenter Server Appliance (vCSA) before you update your ESXi hosts, VMware explains how here, and William Lam here. I will also try to do a separate article about VCSA updating to 6.0U1b soon, using the same technique I detailed for the last upgrade:
How to safely patch your vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 (vCSA)
These instructions are being revised throughout the next few days, please return and refresh!
1) Download ESXi 6.0 Update 1b
A) Registered commercial license key users can download the 6.0 Update 1b ISO
If you do want:
- the ESXi 6.0 Update 1b ISO
- the full vSphere 6.0 U1b with vCenter Server Appliance (vCSA) for the FUN and useful stuff like vMotion
- you have a commercial license of vSphere
then here's the link for all that good stuff:
The "ESXi ISO image (Includes VMware Tools 10.0.0)" section holds the file you want to download, here's the download link to that section:
Name: VMware-VMvisor-Installer-201601001-3380124.x86_64.iso
Release Date: 2016-01-07
Build Number: 3380124
B) EVALExperience/trial/free hypervisor owners - download and apply 6.0 Update 1b patch directly to your existing 6.0.x install with simple commands
These steps have been tested, and work great in my home lab. Before you begin, first, you need to review William Lam's warning:
Disclaimer: This method assumes you can install the default ESXi Image Profile with no additional drivers or packages, else you may have connectivity issue after the upgrade. If you still need to customize the ESXi Image Profile before installation, you will still need to use something like Image Builder and then upload that to your online depot.
...and Andreas Peetz warning:
Important note: Before doing this please check whether you rely on one of the NIC drivers (e.g. Realtek) that were blacklisted in ESXi 6.0. You then need to carry out an additional step before doing the upgrade - see my earlier post (section 2) for details.
For my SuperServer, I didn't have to worry about VIBs: the stock drivers built into 6.0 are all I need to succeed, AHCI and NVMe for my Samsung 950 PRO work just fine. Even if I do need AHCI or NVMe VIBs in the future, if needed, I can just re-add such VIBs after similar future upgrades
In-place upgrade - ESXi 6.0 to 6.0 Update 1b
- Open an SSH session (PuTTY) to your ESXi 6.0 (or ESXi 6.0 Update 1) server
(if you forgot to enable SSH, here's how) - Put your system into maintenance mode, or ensure you've set your ESXi host to automatically gracefully shutdown all VMs upon host reboot
- Paste the following 2 commands (cut-and-paste one line at a time):
esxcli network firewall ruleset set -e true -r httpClient esxcli software profile update -p ESXi-6.0.0-20160104001-standard -d https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml - Optionally, if you wish to return the firewall status to how it was before you began this procedure, paste:
esxcli network firewall ruleset set -e false -r httpClient - Type "reboot" and hit return (to restart your ESXi server). After it's booted, if you turned on maintenance mode earlier, remember to turn it back off. Good idea to test login and be sure everthing seems to be working right.
Special thanks to VMware ESXi Patch Tracker by Andreas Peetz at the VMware Front Experience Blog.
Video
C) EVALExperience/trial/free hypervisor owners doing a new install
You may prefer to inject 6.0 Update 1b patch into the ESXi 6.0 Update 1a ISO that is you already have, or readily available for anybody who registers for a My VMWare account. This would be the way to create the ISO you then make into a bootable USB drive for your install.
I don't have these instructions for this ISO injection quite yet, stay tuned to VMware Front Experience.
2) Download vCSA vCenter Server Appliance
These files are available to all license types (commercial, EVALExperience, trial, free).
Here's the direct download links for each:
-
VMware-viclient-all-6.0.0-3249451.exe (VMware vSphere Client - Windows installer)
- VMware-VCSA-all-6.0.0-3343019.iso (vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 U1b)
3) Read the Release notes here
4) Read the EULA here
5) A variety of issues may strike, you will (probably) prevail!
For non-corporate license holders, such as home lab EVALExperience licenses, you may get the following warning when you try to download vCSA from the above download site:
You either are not entitled or do not have permissions to download this product.
Check with your My VMware Super User, Procurement Contact or Administrator.If you recently purchased this product through VMware Store or through a third-party, try downloading later.
Download Trial
You can also get your vCSA and install. Later on, you apply your EVALExperience license that's suited for home lab users. I know, it's a mess, I apologize for VMware, even though I have absolutely no authority to do so ;-)
Drop us a comment below to let us know how your download is going!
Happy Tinkering!
Jan 07 2016 Update 17:05
I've gotten tired of having to wait up to 60 days with every single point release of ESXi, to be able to have permission to get to the latest download. I don't see EVALExperience showing any way to help you get to the latest bits either, unfortunately. The suite of products you have access to with EVALExperience is amazing, but note that there is no support. And you can't buy per-incident for it either. That's right, it's considered trial code.
So, tonight, I am fed up with having to wait around to get the latest code, and I'm about to rebuild my lab and want my new videos to feature the very latest procedure. It's a huge investment of my time and effort, and I'd rather it not require updates or addendums within days of its arrival.
Within a month or two, anybody with any sort of My VMware account will be able to get 6.0 Update 1b anyway, even if they never bought a license, and are just using the 60 day trials, or extended to the free edition.
I'm glad to report that yes, buying the Academic discounted vSphere Essentials seems gets me the conduit for support I've longed for, for over a decade now, having access to no licenses of my own.
I went here for academic discounted version, for US only (I'm a parent of a college kid):
- VMware Store, Academic Discount
If you are affiliated with a university, and/or have a kid in college and found this article useful, please consider purchasing your license(s) here, an affiliate link.
- VMware Store
If you are not affiliated with a university, and/or don't have any kids in college, and found this article useful, please consider purchasing your license(s) here, an affiliate link.
I paid $399 USD and received the following 2 license key (descriptions), on the spot:
- Academic VMware vCenter Server 6 Essentials for vSphere
- Academic VMware vSphere 6 Essentials for 1 processor
See also at TinkerTry
-
Upgrade your VMware ESXi 6.0 to Update 1a the easy way
Oct 29 2015 - Problems downloading VMware vSphere VMware vCenter Server 5.5 Update 1c Appliance
Aug 04 2014
More info for those who get the dreadedYou either are not entitled or do not have permissions to download this product.
Check with your My VMware Super User, Procurement Contact or Administrator.
See also
-
VMware vSphere 6.0 Update 1b Released
Jan 07 2016 by Vladan Seget at ESXvirtualization -
vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA) 6.0 Update 1 Rundown
Sep 14 2015 by Emad Younis at Emad Younis BlogVCSA 6.0 was minus an old friend, the VAMI. VCSA 6.0 U1 the VAMI has returned! (applause). Not only is it back, but a with a new look in HTML5.
- How to upgrade from VCSA 5.x & 6.x to VCSA 6.0 Update 1?
Sep 11 2015 by William Lam at virtuallyGhetto