6.5.1

Prerequisites
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If the removal requires a reboot, and if the host belongs to a VMware HA cluster, disable HA for the
host.
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Determine whether the update requires the host to be in maintenance mode or to be rebooted. If
necessary, place the host in maintenance mode.
See Determine Whether an Update Requires the Host to Be in Maintenance Mode or to Be
Rebooted. See Place a Host in Maintenance Mode.
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Install vCLI or deploy the vSphere Management Assistant (vMA) virtual machine. See Getting Started
with vSphere Command-Line Interfaces. For troubleshooting, run esxcli commands in the
ESXi Shell.
Procedure
1 Power off each virtual machine running on the ESXi host.
Option Command
To shut down the guest operating
system and then power off the virtual
machine
vmware-cmd --server=server_name path_to_vm stop soft
To force the power off operation
vmware-cmd --server=server_name path_to_vm stop hard
Alternatively, to avoid powering off virtual machines, you can migrate them to another host. See the
topic Migrating Virtual Machines in the vCenter Server and Host Management documentation.
2 Place the host in maintenance mode.
vicfg-hostops --server=server_name --operation enter
3 If necessary, shut down or migrate virtual machines.
4 Determine which VIBs are installed on the host.
esxcli --server=server_name software vib list
5 Remove the VIB.
esxcli --server=server_name software vib remove --vibname=name
Specify one or more VIBs to remove in one of the following forms:
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name
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name:version
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vendor:name
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vendor:name:version
vSphere Upgrade
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