All VM's unregistered after host reboot

[FullCircleAdmin]

Hello,

I am trying to figure out why all of the VM's registered on our ESXi 4.0.0 host become unregistered after a reboot.  The VMDK and other files still exist on the data store, and i am able to re-register the VMs.  I would rather not have to re-register them as we have quite a few.

Thanks for your help

Brian

[mittim12]

Welcome to the forums.   Did the host come back up with access to the storage?    

[DSTAVERT]

What hardware does this run on. Dell had an issue with the first reboot but I don't remember whether this included the 4.0 release or not.

I would make sure you take a configuration backup with the vCLI tools or the vMA appliance. You can test your current running host configuration by copying the state.tgz file to a virtual ESXi machine running in Workstation.

[FullCircleAdmin]

Yes, it had access to the storage.  It is running an internal SCSI array, so it's not a SAN, or NAS.

Thanks!!!

[FullCircleAdmin]

The host server is a Dell R710.  I don't think the CLI tools are enabled though as it's the free ESXi.  I understand that there might be a way to get the CLI enabled, but i have not gone down that path yet.

[Troy_Clavell]

....It is running an internal SCSI array,

on the ESXi Host?  Can one assume that if a host goes down for whatever reason, that storage is no longer available.  When the host comes back on-line the array is then available?  It makes sense why are your guests were no longer in inventory.

you can check out the below blog to help get all your guests re-inventoried.

http://www.lucd.info/2009/12/02/raiders-of-the-lost-vmx/

[DSTAVERT]

The vCLI tools can do a configuration backup and restore even with the free version. You can also do a backup directly on the host through SSH or the unsupported console. You can also copy the state.tgz file to a datastore and download.

[FullCircleAdmin]

Hi Troy,

Yes, it has an internal SCSI arrary on the ESXi host.  It has access to the datastore durring the boot.  I already know how to re-register the VM's but I dont want them to unregister when I reboot the box.  This should not happen when i power off the VM's, take the host into maintance mode, and perform a reboot.  My other ESXi host does not have this problem, and it is also running an internal SCSI array for it's datastore.

Thanks,

[DSTAVERT]

If you did any patching to the ESXi host it is possible that the configuration was not copied to the updated partition. Configurations are backed up on an hourly basis from one partition to the other. It should also happen on a reboot of the ESXi host. Corruption is certainly possible.?? I would check that you have a valid configuration in a backup or the state.tgz