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deandownsouth
Old Timer
USA
415 Posts
Status: offline |
 Posted - 11/25/2009 : 10:36:21 PM
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There's a nasty little issue that some are seeing that renders the host unrecoverable after a failed upgrade and possible loss of local VMs.
Who is affected
Customers using VMware vSphere 4 upgrading to Update 1 with 3rd party management agents running.
Solution
To avoid this issue, prior to the update, disable all 3rd party management agents running on the ESX 4.0.0 server before applying the update.
Note: The 3rd party management agents can be enabled after the upgrade is completed.
If you have already updated the ESX host, do not reboot the ESX host. Open a support request with VMware support. For more information, see How to Submit a Support Request.
WARNING: Rebooting the host means the host has to be reinstalled because it is not recoverable after a reboot.
WARNING: If you have virtual machines running on local storage, they may not be retained if you reinstall ESX 4.0 as a result of this issue. Contact VMware Support for assistance in recovering those virtual machines.
Here's the kb article:
http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1016070
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Mark Dean
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arek73
Moderator
Poland
4592 Posts
Status: offline |
Posted - 11/25/2009 : 11:20:11 PM
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| Wow... this is a scary one. |
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Arek |
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cj_berlin
Honorable But Hopeless Addict
Germany
3098 Posts
Status: offline |
Posted - 11/26/2009 : 03:19:48 AM
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| They seem to have pulled the whole last week's update batch from the repository. It was there last night but now all my hosts show current. |
Evgenij Smirnov
MISSION CRITICAL Business IT Services Ltd.
Revolutionising the PC desktop at a fixed rate (in German only):
PCohnePC.DE |
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chamezzzz
Honorable But Hopeless Addict
United Kingdom
1855 Posts
Status: offline |
Posted - 11/26/2009 : 04:34:22 AM
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Thanks Mark for sharing, and for your excellent advice earlier this week about waiting a while before applying updates.
Needless to say, this one would have stuffed me! |
James |
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Rambler
Old Timer
Czech Republic
585 Posts
Status: offline |
Posted - 11/26/2009 : 04:38:52 AM
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| I assume this doesn't relate to ESXi as there are no 3rd party agents, right? |
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deandownsouth
Old Timer
USA
415 Posts
Status: offline |
Posted - 11/26/2009 : 09:45:20 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by Rambler
I assume this doesn't relate to ESXi as there are no 3rd party agents, right?
There are management agents for ESXi, at least from HP, so I'd make sure what is installed and tread lightly-or at least take an image of the ESXi installation and back up the VMs somewhere else before moving forward. |
Mark Dean
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chamezzzz
Honorable But Hopeless Addict
United Kingdom
1855 Posts
Status: offline |
Posted - 11/26/2009 : 09:52:06 AM
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Can you not Shift + R to roll back to your before status.
From [PDF] http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_upgrade_guide.pdf
Roll Back an ESXi Update, Patch, or Upgrade
For purposes of rollback, the term update refers to all ESXi patches, updates, and upgrades. Each time you
update an ESXi host, a copy of the ESXi build is saved on your host. If you think an ESXi patch might be making
your host not work as expected in your environment, you can roll back the update.
ESXi permits only one level of rollback. Only one previous build can be saved at a time. In effect, each ESXi 4.0
host stores up to two builds, one boot build and one standby build.
When you manually boot into the standby build instead of the current boot build, an irreversible rollback
occurs. The standby build becomes the new boot build and remains the boot build until you perform another
update.
Procedure
1 Reboot the ESXi 4.0 host.
2 When the page that displays the current boot build appears, press Shift+r to select the standby build.
3 Press Shift+y to confirm the selection and press Enter.
The previous update rolls back. The standby build becomes the boot build. |
James |
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deandownsouth
Old Timer
USA
415 Posts
Status: offline |
Posted - 12/10/2009 : 11:29:42 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by chamezzzz
Can you not Shift + R to roll back to your before status.
From [PDF] http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_upgrade_guide.pdf
Roll Back an ESXi Update, Patch, or Upgrade
For purposes of rollback, the term update refers to all ESXi patches, updates, and upgrades. Each time you
update an ESXi host, a copy of the ESXi build is saved on your host. If you think an ESXi patch might be making
your host not work as expected in your environment, you can roll back the update.
ESXi permits only one level of rollback. Only one previous build can be saved at a time. In effect, each ESXi 4.0
host stores up to two builds, one boot build and one standby build.
When you manually boot into the standby build instead of the current boot build, an irreversible rollback
occurs. The standby build becomes the new boot build and remains the boot build until you perform another
update.
Procedure
1 Reboot the ESXi 4.0 host.
2 When the page that displays the current boot build appears, press Shift+r to select the standby build.
3 Press Shift+y to confirm the selection and press Enter.
The previous update rolls back. The standby build becomes the boot build.
Apparently, this only affects ESX and is related to the rpmdb being locked. ESX 4.0.1 was been pulled and only ESXi is available for download. Now ESX 4.0.1a is available. |
Mark Dean
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Topic |
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Upgrade warning for ESX 4 U1 - possible VM loss
