Updating a standalone ESXi 5.1 host

I have just built a fresh standalone ESXi 5.1 host so naturally the first I want to do is patch it.  As it’s standalone, and not managed by a vCenter Server, I’ll need to do it using the CLI.  It has direct Internet access so I don’t need to download the patches and upload them to the server.  The current version of the host is displayed when logging in to the vSphere Client:

Here are the steps taken to install the patch using PuTTY to connect using SSH:

1. Connect to the host using SSH and login

2. Disable the firewall by executing the following command:

esxcli network firewall ruleset set-e true-r httpClient

3. Get a list of available updates by executing the following command:

esxcli software sources profile list -d https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml

4. Select the required update from the list (I’ll be installing ESXi-5.1.0-20130504001-standard) and execute the following command, replacing the name of the update if required:

esxcli software profile install -d https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml -p ESXi-5.1.0-20130504001-standard

5. Once the update has installed disable the firewall by executing this command:

esxcli network firewall ruleset set -e false -r httpClient

6. Restart the host

Once the server has restarted I can see the new version displayed in the vSphere Client