You can apply the stock ESXi upgrade bundle with specified async drivers. This feature is available for VMware Cloud Foundation version 3.5.1 and later.

Prerequisites

Download the appropriate async drivers for your hardware on a computer with internet access.

Procedure

  1. Download the VMware Cloud Foundation ESXi upgrade bundle. See Download Bundles from SDDC Manager.
  2. Using SSH, log in to the SDDC Manager VM.
  3. Create a directory for the vendor provided async drivers under the /nfs/vmware/vcf/nfs-mount directory. For example, /nfs/vmware/vcf/nfs-mount/esx-upgrade-partner-drivers/drivers.
  4. Copy the async drivers to the directory you created on the SDDC Manager VM. For example, you can copy the drivers to the /nfs/vmware/vcf/nfs-mount/esx-upgrade-partner-drivers/drivers directory.
  5. Change permissions on the directory where you copied the drivers. For example,
    chmod -R 775 /nfs/vmware/vcf/nfs-mount/esx-upgrade-partner-drivers/drivers
  6. Change owner to vcf.
    chown -R vcf_lcm:vcf /nfs/vmware/vcf/nfs-mount/esx-upgrade-partner-drivers/drivers
  7. Create an ESX custom image JSON using the following template. 
    {
"esxCustomImageSpecList": [{
"bundleId": "ID",
"useVcfBundle": true,
"esxPatchesAbsolutePaths": [
"Path_to_Drivers"
]
}]
}
    where
    Parameter Description and Example Value
    bundleId ID of the ESXi upgrade bundle you downloaded. You can retrieve the bundle ID by navigating to the Repository > Bundles page and clicking View Details to view the bundle ID.

    For example, 8c0de63d-b522-4db8-be6c-f1e0ab7ef554.

    VMware Cloud Foundation
    targetEsxVersion ESXi version in the custom image to be applied.
    useVcfBundle Specifies whether the ESXi bundle is to be used for the upgrade. Set this to true.
    esxPatchesAbsolutePaths Path to the async drivers on the SDDC Manager VM. For example, /nfs/vmware/vcf/nfs-mount/esx-upgrade-partner-drivers/drivers/VMW-ESX-6.7.0-smartpqi-1.0.2.1038-offline_bundle-8984687.zip

    Here is an example of a completed JSON template. 

    {
"esxCustomImageSpecList": [{
"bundleId": "8c0de63d-b522-4db8-be6c-f1e0ab7ef554",
"useVcfBundle": true,
"esxPatchesAbsolutePaths": [
"/nfs/vmware/vcf/nfs-mount/esx-upgrade-partner-drivers/drivers/VMW-ESX-6.7.0-smartpqi-1.0.2.1038-offline_bundle-8984687.zip"
]
}]
}
  8. Save the JSON file as esx-custom-image-upgrade-spec.json in the /nfs/vmware/vcf/nfs-mount.
    Note: If the JSON file is not saved in the correct directory, the stock VMware Cloud Foundation ISO is used for the upgrade and the custom VIBs are overwritten.
  9. Set the correct permissions on the /nfs/vmware/vcf/nfs-mount/esx-custom-image-upgrade-spec.json file:

    chmod -R 775 /nfs/vmware/vcf/nfs-mount/esx-custom-image-upgrade-spec.json

    chown -R vcf_lcm:vcf /nfs/vmware/vcf/nfs-mount/esx-custom-image-upgrade-spec.json

  10. Open the /opt/vmware/vcf/lcm/lcm-app/conf/application-prod.properties file.
  11. In the lcm.esx.upgrade.custom.image.spec= parameter, add the path to the JSON file.
    For example, lcm.esx.upgrade.custom.image.spec=/nfs/vmware/vcf/nfs-mount/esx-custom-image-upgrade-spec.json
  12. On the SDDC Manager Dashboard, click Inventory > Workload Domains.
  13. Click the management domain and then click Updates/Patches.
  14. Schedule the ESXi upgrade bundle.
  15. Monitor the upgrade progress. See Monitor Updates.
  16. After the upgrade is complete, confirm the ESXi version by clicking Current Versions. The ESXi hosts table displays the current ESXi version.