I recently ran in to a problem where i couldn’t update my esx server from the UI so i wanted to to it from the command line. After doing some research this is the way i was able to do it:
Step 1 was to open the firewall by running:
esxcli network firewall ruleset set -e true -r httpClient
Step 2 was to list the profiles available:
esxcli software sources profile list -d https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml | grep -i ESXi-7
or if i already have a bundle downloaded available:
esxcli software sources profile list -d /vmfs/volumes/datastore/downloaded.zip | grep -i ESXi-7
Step 3 was to pick one of the releases and apply the update
esxcli software profile update -p ESXi-7.0b-16324942-standard -d https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml
or from the local zip file
esxcli software profile update -p ESXi-7.0b-16324942-standard -d /vmfs/volumes/datastore/downloaded.zip
Step 4 dont forget to close the firewall
esxcli network firewall ruleset set -e false -r httpClient