Most if not all patching for ESX is usually done via Vmware Update Manager, however I downloaded a couple of zip files directly from HP to install when I rebuild my ESX 4.0 cluster as ESX 4.1.

First step is to get your zip files on the ESX host (using scp in my case) and place the box in maintenance mode.

Then using the command below I can determine which updates (or bulletins) will be installed.

_{# esxupdate –bundle  hp-nmi-bundle-1.1.02.zip scan
Applicable bulletins with updates are listed.
—-Bulletin ID—– ——–Date——- —————-Summary—————–
hp-nmi-driver-1.1.02 2010-09-13T01:08:28 HP NMI Sourcing Driver for VMware ESX/ES
Esxupdate local cache states:
 Location: /tmp/updatecache
 Available space: 4087 [MB]}

Then I can do a dry run

_{# esxupdate –bundle  hp-esxi4.1uX-bundle-1.0a.zip stage
Unpacking cross_oem-hp-smx-provider_410.02… ######################################### [100%]}

Then I install

_{# esxupdate –bundle  hp-esxi4.1uX-bundle-1.0a.zip update
Installing packages :cross_oem-hp-smx-provi.. ######################################### [100%]}