VMware vSphere 7.0 Update 2b is now GA, here's how to download it any which way!

Posted by Paul Braren on Mar 10 2021 (updated on Jun 11 2021) in

Text:

To get started with your lab testing, jump to the appropriate download section:

The main VMware download page with all the products to sift through is here, with guidance on what exact files to get from where detailed below! If you're still on 6.x and are more of a YouTube watcher and you want to see what the upgrades to 7.0 are like, here's the article featuring informal videos that should help build your confidence!

On March 9, VMware published Announcing: vSphere 7 Update 2 Release along with vSphere Release Notes, but the ISOs weren't generally available to download. Upgrades were available, which I began testing in my homelab via VAMI and ESXi. Then in the early hours of March 11 2021, ESXi and VCSA ISOs became available too, with this article promptly updated too.

As always, be sure to use VUM to update your VCSA first, then update your ESXi host(s) with the preferred Lifecycle Manager. Alternatively, use ESXCLI to upgrade which doesn't require VCSA, downloads and installs with one command, and doesn't require my.vmware.com credentials or software trials, or VCSA.

Please note that I've run into some issues with my own VCSA 7.0 Update 2 upgrade, with VAMI stuck at:
Installation in progress
92%
Converting data as part of post install.

Despite this, my VCSA seems to work, albeit with some other minor warnings in the vSphere Client that I might publish a video on if time permits. What surprised me somewhat was that my VCSA 7.0U1c instance was rebuilt from scratch a little over a month ago, so it was very nearly a fresh install. It's too early to say whether this 92% issue is minor, and whether it's a prevalent issues others are experiencing too.

Prerequisites

Folks new to VMware sometimes get tripped up when trying to find the actual files they'll need to get started. Note that the fresh install full downloads do require you to use your MY VMware account, with free sign-up and 60 day trials, with information about potentially avoiding all that for existing vSphere 7.0 non-production labs here, which I've already tested!

Warning - vSphere 7.0 was a major new release, with Update 1 containing signficant new capabilities. Update 2 appears to be a bit of a smaller upgrade, see also VMware's What’s New with vSAN 7 Update 2:

Performance Optimizations
In vSAN 7 Update 2, we have improved the performance and CPU efficiency of RAID 5/6. This enables the space efficiency of erasure coding while enhancing application performance and reducing CPU cost per I/O. Additional buffer tier performance improvements were also made.

If you are new to 7.x, you'll need new license keys and some preparation. If you have a vSphere 6.x license key in your lab that is working now, after the upgrade to 7.0, you'll be starting your 60 day trial, during which time you'll want to apply your license keys from any one of the 4 options listed below.

As always, you must do your homework including checking whether your VM backup solution supports vSphere 7 Update 2 yet. Likely that will take at least a month or two. Check with your backup vendor to be sure, for example, since there's been a few Updates that have inadvertently broken backups, for example. As always, the focus of my articles is home or work lab testing, typically considered non-production environments.

Release Notes

Before you begin any upgrades, you really need to review both

Note, when 7.0 came out, folks noticed significant changes about the filesystem layout, and note there were warnings about using boot media that's less than 32GB in size:

ESXi Hardware Requirements

Good thing the bootable media included with all SuperServer Bundles since 2016 have been 32GB!

You will find all kinds of details in these articles, including dependencies and warnings.

So if you're going forward with lab testing this anyway, but you don't have a VMware support, then you absolutely must back up everything first!

License keys for vSphere 7 are another topic for another day, but one place that you can get 365 days of them for nearly every product VMware makes is the VMUG Advantage EVALExperience program, using TINKERTRY to get $20 off your $200 purchase. Absolutely worth every penny!

Download

Note, VCSA 6.7 was 3.41 GB, but vSphere 7.0 was 6.42 GB, and 7.0 Update 1 is 7.6 GB! Yes, there's a lot of increased functionality, and keeping perspective here, this is a heckuva lot smaller than installing Windows Server and SQL Server used to be. VCSA is now a Photon OS based slim Linux variant that only includes the code that's actually needed.

To get started with your lab testing, jump to the appropriate download section:

at my.vmware.com and haven't requested a trial in the last 60 days, the 2 links below should work, but won't give you access to license keys that are purchased separately at the VMware Store where you'll find that the VMware Essentials Kit is the most cost-effective option, unless you are eligible for the Academic Price. Per incident support is purchased separately, most helpful for VMware software issues on VMware HCL supported hardware, such as a Bundle.

VMware vCenter Server Appliance 7.0U2b

7.45 GB
Name: VMware-VCSA-all-7.0.2-17958471.iso
Release Date: 2021-05-25
Build Number: 17958471

VMware vSphere Hypervisor [ESXi ISO] image 7.0U2a

390.11 MB
Name: VMware-VMvisor-Installer-7.0U2a-17867351.x86_64.iso
Release Date: 2021-04-29
Build Number: 17867351

Licenses

Within 60 days, you'll want to apply your new vSphere 7 licenses from here:
my.vmware.com/group/vmware/my-licenses/by-folder

Troubleshooting Access

If you get a sad-trombone moment and are faced with an issue with accessing the downloads such as
Your evaluation has expired
Consider requesting a new vSphere 7 trial here:
my.vmware.com/en/web/vmware/evalcenter?p=vsphere-eval

my-vmwares-you-either-are-not-entitled-or-do-not-have-permissions-to-download-this-product-error-and-what-to-do-about-it

See also alternative solutions I wrote up that may still work My VMware's "You either are not entitled or do not have permissions to download this product." error, and what to do about it., and this newer trick that may help.

2. If you're currently a vExpert

As of Mar 10 2021, it seems 7.0 Update 2 hasn't made it onto the vExpert Download section yet, but these instructions for downloading 7.0 should be similar enough to help you get by once it does come out.

Log in to the download page at:
vexpert.vmware.com/my/downloads
then search for 7.0.2 at top right to find all new vSphere related downloads, or just search for each of these file names below:
The VCSA 7 appliance download you'll likely want is (probably going to be) called ESXI701/VMware-VMvisor-Installer-7.0U1-16850804.x86_64.iso.gz, but Windows users will also need something like 7-zip to extract the iso from the fully-downloaded gz file.
The generic (non Dell or HP) ESXi download you'll likely want for most home labs is called VMware-VCSA-all-7.0.1-16860138.iso.gz
Type "7.0.1" in the search box at top right, sorry the screenshot above is from my earlier 7.0.0 searches since 7.0.1 hasn't shown up yet.

Licenses

Within 60 days, you'll want to apply your new vSphere 7 licenses from here:
vexpert.vmware.com/my/licenses

3. If you're currently a VMUG Advantage EVALExperience subscriber

This is the VMUG Advantage download site for existing members, and here is the sign-up site, taking roughly one business day to process your payment and give you access to the downloads. Sorry weekend impulse tinkerers, next time, place your order on Thursday morning, OK?

The EVALExperience VCSA and ESXi 7.0 bits are now available for download using the direct link below. I've recorded this video of the ordering and downloading process on Apr 7 2020, once 7.0 Update 1 arrives on VMUG Advantage, the process will likely be quite similar. You don't have to wait, since you can also upgrade your VCSA 7.0 to 7.0U1 manually using VAMI then use the preferred Lifecycle Manager method of updating your ESXi hosts to 7.0U1, or you can use the ESXCLI method of updating ESXi 7.0 to 7.0U1.

STEP 0 - Become a member, or renew your membership if it expired

Mine had expired, so I renewed by clicking on UPGRADE TO ADVANTAGE. I'm told it usually takes one business day to process the order.

STEP 1 - Add to Cart

When prompted, just log-in, Add to Cart, disable any ad blockers for this page, then begin your download!

VMware vCenter Server 7
This one item added to your shopping cart, place your order, and you'll see the exactly the 2 downloads you need!

STEP 2 - Check out

STEP 3 - Agree to the EULA

STEP 4 - Fill out SURVEY questions

Fill out answers to some basic product survey questions, takes about a minute

STEP 5 - Click NEXT to order

Your existing membership is your only cost, there is no additional cost for downloading any of the code you find in your portal. You'll now see a confirmation screen with the 2 license keys that you'll need to use in your lab once your installation is completed during the 60 day trial.

STEP 6 - Click on DOWNLOAD

Be sure ad blocker(s) are disabled for this url, or your download won't start.

As of Mar 12 2021, already they have 7.0U2 available! Here's the 2 files:

VMware vCenter Server 7.0 Update 2

6.42 GB
Name: VMware-VCSA-all-7.0.2-17694817.iso
Size: 7 GB

VMware vSphere Hypervisor [ESXi]

350.29 MB
File: VMware-VMvisor-Installer-7.0U2-17630552.x86_64.iso
Size: 390 MB

License Keys and Downloads retrieval

Keys were provided in STEP 5 above, but they can easily be retrieved any time by going in to your VMUG Advantage Order History, then clicking on the View Details button.

2020-04-07_19-48-46 — License keys and a button to re-download at a later date.

How to download your vSphere 7 [VCSA/ESXi] files and license keys from VMUG Advantage EVALExperience

4. If you're seeking the Free Hypervisor Download and License

Apr 10 2020 Update - here's the new request URL:
my.vmware.com/en/group/vmware/evalcenter?p=vsphere-eval-7
and here's an excellent new article walking you right through all the steps
virten.net/2020/04/free-esxi-7-0-how-to-download-and-get-license-keys/

NAKIVO-free-vmware-esxi-restrictions-limitations

Not having access to VMware vSphere's best features that vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA) enables are pretty severe restrictions these days, here's a good article Nakivo wrote about the limitations in Free VMware ESXi 6.7. I know some just have one system, or multiple systems they're cool with managing via the ESXi Host Client.

What I have little sympathy for are folks trying to get away with using this free version for a production environment. I actually talked to a bank once who was doing exactly that. Sigh.

Thoughts & Plans

gigabyte-xeon-d-2100-mb51-ps0-motherboard-first-look-unboxing — Xeon D-1500 series and Xeon D-2100 series testing underway.

Of course, I've already begun testing new Update 2 release briefly, and I do plan to do a more thorough test on my Xeon D-1500 8 and 12 core SuperServer Bundles.

I am still considering re-doing my popular How to build your awesome virtualization home lab with VMware vSphere 6.0 (ESXi & VCSA), especially now that I've found an insanely fast and affordable Ubiquiti EdgeRouter Lite that does the forward and reverse lookup and FQDN that VCSA loves, with lovely names instead of ugly IPs for everything, and no certificate errors. This router also avoids that clumsy hosts-file-editing stuff and kludgey router domain name hoops I resorted to jumping through last time around. Setting expectations properly, I need to disclose that finding the time and the support to undertake such a large effort is going to be a challenge. A lot has changed in vSphere in the 4 years since I created that video, and during that same time I've changed day jobs 3 times too! If you have a keen interest in seeing such a step-by-step networking and vSphere deployment walk through, please:

consider a Patreon membership
drop a comment below to indicate interest, no login required
include @paulbraren in a tweet

Upgrades

I'm also working on my usual "How to easily update" set of VCSA and ESXi articles, with testing going well so far.

Video

TinkerTry - Oct 06 2020 - Using VAMI to successfully upgrade VMware VCSA from 7.0c to 7.0 Update 1

How to install VMware ESXi 7.0 Hypervisor onto a USB flash drive

How to seamlessly update VMware vCenter Server Appliance/VCSA from 6.7 to 7.0, no IP or dns change!

Step-by-step video showing me upgrading my SYS-5028D-TN4T Bundle based on the Xeon D-1541, going from 6.7U3 to 7.0 in my home lab.

How to update any 6.x VMware ESXi Hypervisor to 7.0 using ESXCLI for easy download and install

USB Image Tool for Windows easily backs up and restores complete VMware ESXi installed on USB or SD

vSphere Online Launch Event Apr 02 2020 - It was streamed live at 11am Eastern time, but playback is available at the same URL. Apparently this was live streamed, so I couldn't help but notice that the folks in a studio together weren't 6' from each other or wearing masks.

  Loading /boot.cfg
  Failed to load crypto64.efi
  Fatal error: 15 (Not found)

2) Using ESXCLI

to update your ESXi host, you see this error:

  [root@xd-1541-5028d:~] esxcli software profile update -p ESXi-7.0.2-17630552-standard -d https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml
  [NoMatchError]
  No image profile found with name 'ESXi-7.0.2-17630552-standard'
        id = ESXi-7.0.2-17630552-standard
  Please refer to the log file for more details.
  [root@xd-1541-5028d:~]

you'll want to see this excerpt from VMware KB 83063 published on Mar 12 2021:

As of March 12th, VMware has removed the ESXi 7.0 U2 offline depot from all sites as a result of this failure, > For more information, please see KB 83107
VMware is currently working on building a new Patch to resolve this issue.
As a result VMware recommends to NOT upgrade to 7.0 U2 until this patch is available.

If you have encountered this issue, please follow the workarounds below to recover your host
Post this, please pause all upgrade activity if possible

Please refer to KB 1033604 for details on how to roll back an ESXi host to a previous version.

Should you need to continue with the upgrade, an upgrade using the ESX7.0U2 ISO file will avoid this issue.
However, as per the above, this is not recommended at this time.
https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/7.0/com.vmware.esxi.upgrade.doc/GUID-77D42D81-F47E-4FE9-B4B2-B15AB16C9C1A.html

Special thanks are in order for TinkerTry commenter Slennox, who tipped me off to this issue affecting ESXCLI command users too, confirmed by Erki Rajangu @vSymbiosis. See also William Lam's post on Mar 10 2021, as well as Florian @virten's tweet that references his Mar 12 2021 article Failed to load crypto64.efi - ESXi 7.0 U2 Upgrade Error.