Export an Image Profile to an ISO or Offline Bundle ZIP with PowerCLI Cmdlets

You can export an image profile to an ISO image or a ZIP file of component files and folders. You cannot create both by running the cmdlet once. You can use the ISO image as an ESXi installer or upload the ISO into vSphere Lifecycle Manager for upgrades.

Prerequisites

Install the PowerCLI and all prerequisite software. See Install vSphere ESXi Image Builder and Prerequisite Software.

Procedure

1. In a PowerCLI session, run the Add-EsxSoftwareDepot cmdlet for each depot you want to work with.

   Option	Action
   Remote depot	Run Add-EsxSoftwareDepot -DepotUrl <depot_url>.
   ZIP file	Download the ZIP file to a local file system. Run Add-EsxSoftwareDepot -DepotUrl C:\<file_path>\<offline-bundle>.zip

   The cmdlet returns one or more SoftwareDepot objects.
2. Run Export-EsxImageProfile to export the image profile.

   Export Format	Cmdlet
   ISO images	Export-EsxImageProfile with the -ExportToIso parameter
   Offline depot ZIP files	Export-EsxImageProfile with the -ExportToBundle parameter

Results

For the ISO image, vSphere ESXi Image Builder validates VIB signatures, adds VIB binaries to the image, and downloads the image to the specified location. For the ZIP file, vSphere ESXi Image Builder validates VIB signatures and downloads the VIB binaries to the specified location.

Example: Exporting an Image Profile

Follow these steps to export an image profile to an ISO image.

1. Add the software depot.

   Add-EsxSoftwareDepot -DepotUrl url_or_file

2. View all available image profiles to find the name of the image profile to export.

   Get-EsxImageProfile

3. Export the image profile.

   Export-EsxImageProfile -ImageProfile "myprofile" -ExportToIso -FilePath iso_name

Follow these steps to export an image profile to a ZIP file of component files and folders.

1. Add the software depot.

   Add-EsxSoftwareDepot -DepotUrl url_or_file

2. View all available image profiles to find the name of the image profile to export.

   Get-EsxImageProfile

3. Export the image profile.

   Export-EsxImageProfile -ImageProfile "myprofile" -ExportToBundle -FilePath C:\my_bundle.zip

What to do next

Use the ISO image in an ESXi installation or upload the ISO image into vSphere Lifecycle Manager to perform upgrades.

Use the ZIP file to upgrade an ESXi installation.

• Import the ZIP file into vSphere Lifecycle Manager for use with patch baselines.
• Download the ZIP file to an ESXi host or a datastore and run esxcli software vib commands to import the VIBs in the ZIP file.

See the vSphere Upgrade documentation.