A while back I wrote about how to upgrade to ESXi 5.5 via command line which works great when you only have a few hosts as each host has to download the ISO from the web each time. This time I’ll show you step by step how to upgrade your ESXi 5.1 host to ESXi 5.5 using VMware Update Manager 5.5 (aka VUM).

For this post I’m going to assume you have already upgraded your vCenter and VUM to versions 5.5 as well as the VUM plugin installed. So lets begin!

Upgrade ESXi host to 5.5 using VMware Update Manager (VUM)

  1. Open the vSphere client and click on Update Manager
    Upgrade ESXi host to ESXi 5.5 using VMware Update Manager 5.5

  1. First we’ll upload the ISO p_w_picpath. Click on the “ESXi Images” tab.
    Upgrade ESXi host to ESXi 5.5 using VMware Update Manager 5.5

  2. Click on the “Import ESXi Image” link.
    Upgrade ESXi host to ESXi 5.5 using VMware Update Manager 5.5

  3. Click on “Browse” and select the path where the ESXi 5.5 ISO p_w_picpath is located on your machine or network, then click “Next“.
    Upgrade ESXi host to ESXi 5.5 using VMware Update Manager 5.5

  4. The ISO p_w_picpath will then start the process of upload the p_w_picpath. This typically just takes a minute or two.
    Upgrade ESXi host to ESXi 5.5 using VMware Update Manager 5.5

  5. After the ESXi 5.5 ISO p_w_picpath upload is completed you are prompted to create a baseline. Go ahead and do so as we’ll need a baseline in order to upgrade the hosts anyways. Simply enter a name and description for the Baseline.
    Upgrade ESXi host to ESXi 5.5 using VMware Update Manager 5.5

  6. Go to the Hosts and Clusters view and select the host you want to upgrade first and then select the “Update Manager” tab, then click on the “Attach” link so that we can attach our new Baseline to this host.
    Upgrade ESXi host to ESXi 5.5 using VMware Update Manager 5.5

  7. Now select the newly created Baseline you created during the upgrade, then click on “Attach“. In this example, since this is a Dell host I named the baseline “Dell 5.5 Hosts”.
    Upgrade ESXi host to ESXi 5.5 using VMware Update Manager 5.5

  8. Once you have attached the baseline now click on “Scan“.
    Upgrade ESXi host to ESXi 5.5 using VMware Update Manager 5.5

  9. In the scan confirmation window make sure that “Upgrades” are checked and then click on “Scan“. This step can take several minutes.
    Upgrade ESXi host to ESXi 5.5 using VMware Update Manager 5.5

  10. When the scan is complete you’ll be shown the results such as below which will tell you the host (ESXi 5.1) is not compliant with the baseline (ESXi 5.5). To remedy this click on “Remediate“.
    Upgrade ESXi host to ESXi 5.5 using VMware Update Manager 5.5

  11. Select your baseline and click on “Next“. Agree to the EULA terms and click “Next“.
    Upgrade ESXi host to ESXi 5.5 using VMware Update Manager 5.5

  12. Give the task a name and if you want, at this step you could schedule the upgrade for anytime. We’ll go ahead and leave the default setting and run it immediately. Click “Next“.
    Upgrade ESXi host to ESXi 5.5 using VMware Update Manager 5.5

  13. VUM will automatically place the host into maintenance mode if needed and at this screen you can change those settings if you desire. We’ll leave it as default. Click “Next“.
    Upgrade ESXi host to ESXi 5.5 using VMware Update Manager 5.5

  14. We’ll leave all the defaults for the Cluster Remediation Options as well. Click “Next“.
    Upgrade ESXi host to ESXi 5.5 using VMware Update Manager 5.5

  15. The only thing left to do now is to look over the confirmation and then click on “Finish“. VUM will then start the upgrade process which can take some time so go get a coffee or in my case, water and wait.
    Upgrade ESXi host to ESXi 5.5 using VMware Update Manager 5.5

  16. Once finished you’re host will be running ESXi 5.5. It’s as easy as that!
    Upgrade ESXi host to ESXi 5.5 using VMware Update Manager 5.5