How to upgrade ESXi through CLI

Step 1: Enable SSH through the web client and connect to your ESXi host.

Step 2: Enter the following command to enable the firewall rule for web traffic.

esxcli network firewall ruleset set -e true -r httpClient

Step 3: Run this command to see the VMware online depot and the different profiles you can upgrade from.

esxcli software sources profile list -d https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml | grep -i ESXi-7.0

Note: you can also change ESXi-7.0 to other versions, such as ESXi-6.7, to show the version 6.7 list.

Step 4: Run the upgrade with this command:

esxcli software profile update -p ESXi-7.0U3e-19898904-standard -d https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml

finally, you’ll see the following output, which requires a reboot to finish the update process.

Before the reboot, enter the following command to disable the firewall for web traffic.

esxcli network firewall ruleset set -e false -r httpClient