Getting the profile name for installing a ESXi patch from command line

So I go to the vmware page for ESXi patches and downloaded the patch

ESXi670-201811001

Product:ESXi (Embedded and Installable) 6.7.0

Download Size:317.5 MB

But when I try to install it, I need a "patch" name, whatever that is

[root@vmhost2:/tmp] esxcli software profile update -d /vmfs/volumes/VOL1
/ISO/ESXi670-201811001.zip
Error: Missing required parameter -p|--profile

Usage: esxcli software profile update [cmd options]

Description:
  update                Updates the host with VIBs from an image profile in a
                        depot. Installed VIBs may be upgraded (or downgraded
                        if --allow-downgrades is specified), but they will
                        not be removed. Any VIBs in the image profile which
                        are not related to any installed VIBs will be added
                        to the host. WARNING: If your installation requires a
                        reboot, you need to disable HA first.

Cmd options:
  --allow-downgrades    If this option is specified, then the VIBs from the
                        image profile which update, downgrade, or are new to
                        the host will be installed. If the option is not
                        specified, then the VIBs which update or are new to
                        the host will be installed.
  -d|--depot=[  ... ]
                        Specifies full remote URLs of the depot index.xml or
                        server file path pointing to an offline bundle .zip
                        file. (required)
  --dry-run             Performs a dry-run only. Report the VIB-level
                        operations that would be performed, but do not change
                        anything in the system.
[...]
  -p|--profile=    Specifies the name of the image profile to update the
                        host with. (required)
  --proxy=         Specifies a proxy server to use for HTTP, FTP, and
                        HTTPS connections. The format is proxy-url:port.
[root@vmhost2:/tmp]

Maybe it is named after the file? Let's punt

[root@vmhost2:/tmp] esxcli software profile update -d /vmfs/volumes/VOL1/IS
O/ESXi670-201811001.zip  -p ESXi-6.7.0-201811001-standard
 [NoMatchError]
 No image profile found with name 'ESXi-6.7.0-201811001-standard'
         id = ESXi-6.7.0-201811001-standard
 Please refer to the log file for more details.
[root@dentistryesxi2:/tmp]

After feeling a bit frustrated, I found some docs on updating a host using image profiles with the following example:

esxcli --server=server_name software sources profile list --depot=http://webserver/depot_name

Well, we know even though the docs seem to imply the "depot" is a server somewhere with the patch bundles as .zip files, we can just download and give the path. So, let's see if that applies here too:

[root@vmhost2:/tmp] esxcli software sources profile list -d /vmfs/volume
s/VOL1/ISO/ESXi670-201811001.zip
Name                             Vendor        Acceptance Level  Creation Time        Modification Time
-------------------------------  ------------  ----------------  -------------------  -------------------
ESXi-6.7.0-20181104001-no-tools  VMware, Inc.  PartnerSupported  2018-11-08T08:39:27  2018-11-08T08:39:27
ESXi-6.7.0-20181104001-standard  VMware, Inc.  PartnerSupported  2018-11-08T08:39:27  2018-11-08T08:39:27
[root@dentistryesxi2:/tmp]

Aha! I was close but no cookies. I really would never have guessed it was 20181104001 instead of 201811001; that is why it pays to ask whoever knows the right answer, in this case the file itself. Let's try it:

[root@vmhost2:/tmp] esxcli software profile update -d /vmfs/volumes/VOL1/ISO/ESXi670-201811001.zip \
 -p ESXi-6.7.0-20181104001-standard
Update Result
   Message: The update completed successfully, but the system needs to be rebooted for the changes to be effective.
   Reboot Required: true 
   VIBs Installed: VMW_bootbank_bnxtroce_20.6.101.0-20vmw.670.1.28.10302608, VMW_bootbank_brcmfcoe_11.4.1078.5-11vmw.670.1.28.10302608, VMW_bootbank_elxnet_11.4.1095.0-5vmw.670.1.28.10302608, VMW_bootbank_i40en_1.3.1-22vmw.670.1.28.10302608, VMW_bootbank_ipmi-ipmi-devintf_39.1-5vmw.670.1.28.10302608, VMW_bootbank_ipmi-ipmi-msghandler_39.1-5vmw.670.1.28.10302608, VMW_bootbank_ipmi-ipmi-si-drv_39.1-5vmw.670.1.28.10302608, VMW_bootbank_iser_1.0.0.0-1vmw.670.1.28.10302608, VMW_bootbank_ixgben_1.4.1-16vmw.670.1.28.10302608, VMW_bootbank_lpfc_11.4.33.3-11vmw.670.1.28.10302608, VMW_bootbank_lsi-mr3_7.702.13.00-5vmw.670.1.28.1030260
[...]
otbank_shim-vmklinux-9-2-1-0_6.7.0-0.0.8169922, VMW_bootbank_shim-vmklinux-9-2-
2-0_6.7.0-0.0.8169922, VMW_bootbank_shim-vmklinux-9-2-3-0_6.7.0-0.0.8169922, VM
W_bootbank_uhci-usb-uhci_1.0-3vmw.670.0.0.8169922, VMW_bootbank_usb-storage-usb
-storage_1.0-3vmw.670.0.0.8169922, VMW_bootbank_usbcore-usb_1.0-3vmw.670.0.0.8169922, VMW_bootbank_vmkata_0.1-1vmw.670.0.0.8169922, VMW_bootbank_vmkplexer-vmkplexer_6.7.0-0.0.8169922, VMW_bootbank_xhci-xhci_1.0-3vmw.670.0.0.8169922, VMware_bootbank_elx-esx-libelxima.so_11.4.1184.0-0.0.8169922, VMware_bootbank_esx-dvfilter-generic-fastpath_6.7.0-0.0.8169922, VMware_bootbank_esx-xserver_6.7.0-0.0.8169922, VMware_bootbank_lsu-lsi-lsi-msgpt3-plugin_1.0.0-8vmw.670.0.0.8169922, VMware_bootbank_lsu-lsi-megaraid-sas-plugin_1.0.0-9vmw.670.0.0.8169922, VMwa
re_bootbank_lsu-lsi-mpt2sas-plugin_2.0.0-7vmw.670.0.0.8169922, VMware_bootbank_
native-misc-drivers_6.7.0-0.0.8169922, VMware_bootbank_qlnativefc_3.0.1.0-5vmw.
670.0.0.8169922, VMware_bootbank_rste_2.0.2.0088-7vmw.670.0.0.8169922
[root@vmhost2:/tmp]

Much better.