Today I performed an upgrade of VMware vSphere 4.0 to 4.1. Below the steps I’ve taken to complete this task;

1. First download and install the vSphere vCLI from http://www.vmware.com/support/developer/vcli/
2. Download the upgrade zip from VMware: Upgrade package for 4.0 to 4.1 or Upgrade package for 3.5 to 4.1
3. Connect to the host using the vSphere client, stop or suspend any VMs, and enter maintenance mode
4. Open a command window and change directory to the vCLI bin folder (default: CProgram FilesVMwareVMware vSphere CLIbin)
5. Execute the following 2 steps to upgrade the host;
   1. vihostupdate.pl –server [hostip] -i -b [path to updateupdate-file-name] -B ESXi410-GA-esxupdate
   2. vihostupdate.pl –server [hostip] -i -b [path to updateupdate-file-name] -B ESXi410-GA
6. After the upgrade you can check for the installed updates using the command “vihostupdate.pl –server [hostip] –query”
7. If the upgrade went successful you must restart the host en exit maintenance mode.

Here is a screenshot the upgrade process;

When you are connected to the host with the vSphere client during the upgrade you can monitor the actions in the Task section;

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