Partitions no longer exists after ESX Update

[andromeda7383]

Hi!

I have an test ESX 3.5 machine which I manage thru the virtual centre with update 3. I have 2 VM's on it - one is a winxp and other is win2k3. I have downloaded the Update manager with update 3 and downloaded a few updates for the host.

There were around 21 updates which were downloaded but were non-compliant- but when I attached the baseline to the esx host and tried to remediate - it showed no updates - this is because they were non-compliant.

I proceeded with the remediation even though no updates were selected. The recent task pane shows that updates are being installed. After a while the whole update process finished and everything seemed to work OK.

The issues started when I did a restart of the Esx server - the virtual centre reports that both the vm's are "unknown (inaccessible)". When I click on the Esx server - it says "The Vmware ESX server does not have persistent storage".

I log onto the esx server and check the volumes on the VMFS - its all empty.

I again reboot the ESX server and when at the " Starting VMware ESX Server Services" I see error -

"Unable to report all information on Configured Partitions, partitions may no longer exits. Error message was : Unable to find LUN with ID : rml.0100000000202020202020202020202020394C533643304738535433313630"

Further when it says starting the firewall - it spits out this error message - Starting firewall 2008-12-12 07:12:50 (979) ERROR 'iptables/sbin/iptables - A output -p tcp --dport 9000-9100 -j Accept' failed.

It actually gives 11 lines of this error.

The next line shows this error - ipmi_si : Unable to find any System Interface(s).

And then finally the screen appears to login.

Does anybody have an idea what the issue is? As Iam using a test machine I have the datastore on the local machine.

Why doesnt vmware have an option to revert back to a state prior to patch installation, and why does it try to install something when I didnt even select any.

Any help in investigating this issue would be appreciated.

Thank you

Regards

Hugo

[Texiwill]

Hello,

Well the firewall and IPMI are different issues than the VMFS one. Can you provide the results of:

fdisk -l

We can see if there is an appropriate local disk partition on the system for VMFS. THen we can debug from there. I however think your update failed for some reason and things are not loading properly. You may also want to run:

esxcfg-boot -r

To rebuild the initrd as some modules could be missing.

These commands run from the CLI.

Best regards,

Edward L. Haletky

VMware Communities User Moderator

====

Author of the book 'VMWare ESX Server in the Enterprise: Planning and Securing Virtualization Servers', Copyright 2008 Pearson Education.

Blue Gears and SearchVMware Pro Blogs: http://www.astroarch.com/wiki/index.php/Blog_Roll

Top Virtualization Security Links: http://www.astroarch.com/wiki/index.php/Top_Virtualization_Security_Links

[andromeda7383]

Hi!

Thanks for the reply. The output from "fdisk -l" is in the attached file.

esxcfg-boot -r ran for a while and then the prompt came back - did not see any output.

Thank you

[Texiwill]

Hello,

This is your VMFS, so its there.

/dev/hdc3 651 19117 148336177+ fb Unknown

Now that esxcfg-boot ran, please reboot your VMware ESX host. If it was a driver issue, this could have fixed it.

Best regards,

Edward L. Haletky

VMware Communities User Moderator

====

Author of the book 'VMWare ESX Server in the Enterprise: Planning and Securing Virtualization Servers', Copyright 2008 Pearson Education.

Blue Gears and SearchVMware Pro Blogs: http://www.astroarch.com/wiki/index.php/Blog_Roll

Top Virtualization Security Links: http://www.astroarch.com/wiki/index.php/Top_Virtualization_Security_Links

[andromeda7383]

Hi!

I tried the reboot - its still the same. Unable to access the vm's.

I even disconnected/removed and reconnected the host from the virtual centre still its the same.

The errors while rebooting the esx still exist.

Anything else we can do ?

Thank you for you help, really appreciate it.

[Texiwill]

Hello,

I would call your VMware Support Representative. The errors need to be addressed first then they can solve the rest. It sounds like an update failed.

Best regards,

Edward L. Haletky

VMware Communities User Moderator

====

Author of the book 'VMWare ESX Server in the Enterprise: Planning and Securing Virtualization Servers', Copyright 2008 Pearson Education.

Blue Gears and SearchVMware Pro Blogs: http://www.astroarch.com/wiki/index.php/Blog_Roll

Top Virtualization Security Links: http://www.astroarch.com/wiki/index.php/Top_Virtualization_Security_Links

[andromeda7383]

Hi! Thank you for your prompt relies, I will try to get in touch with them.

Appreciate your help.

[Texiwill]

Hello,

Another option would be to reinstall but preserve the VMFS. However, if the VMFS is actually corrupt, that could be dangerous.

Best regards,

Edward L. Haletky

VMware Communities User Moderator

====

Author of the book 'VMWare ESX Server in the Enterprise: Planning and Securing Virtualization Servers', Copyright 2008 Pearson Education.

Blue Gears and SearchVMware Pro Blogs: http://www.astroarch.com/wiki/index.php/Blog_Roll

Top Virtualization Security Links: http://www.astroarch.com/wiki/index.php/Top_Virtualization_Security_Links

[andromeda7383]

Hi!

How to reinstall preserving the vmfs? btw - when I browse to the vmfs - volumes - its empty - could it be that the vm files still exist but something is not making it visible?

It would be great if I could reinstall preserving the vmfs.

Pl let me know the procedure.

Thank you

[Texiwill]

Hello,

It is an option during the installation. However, if you have access to a VMFS, and nothing is there then you either have a corrupt VMFS or your VMs no longer exist on the VMFS. Another option would be to boot the system using MOA (www.sanbarrow.com/html) in order to recover files from the VMFS. If the VMFS is complete this is possible.

I would still work with the VMware Support Rep in this case.

Best regards,

Edward L. Haletky

VMware Communities User Moderator

====

Author of the book 'VMWare ESX Server in the Enterprise: Planning and Securing Virtualization Servers', Copyright 2008 Pearson Education.

Blue Gears and SearchVMware Pro Blogs: http://www.astroarch.com/wiki/index.php/Blog_Roll

Top Virtualization Security Links: http://www.astroarch.com/wiki/index.php/Top_Virtualization_Security_Links

[andromeda7383]

Hi!

Ok, I will try the website - but before that I wanted to see if I could reinstall ESX again. When I installed it first time using the same cd everything went on well. But, strangly this time when I click "next" at the

Welcome to ESX server 3.5 installer release 3.5.0 screen

It prompts with an error message -

The installer was unable to find any supported network devices

press OK to reboot your system.

I have a dell precision workstation 390 with a built-in network card. Is this something to do with the messed up updates?

Thank you

[Texiwill]

Hello,

No the installer runs separate, but it does have something to do with using ESX on unsupported hardware.... You need to make sure the NIC card within the system is on the HCL and has the proper firmware installed if it is.

Best regards,

Edward L. Haletky

VMware Communities User Moderator

====

Author of the book 'VMWare ESX Server in the Enterprise: Planning and Securing Virtualization Servers', Copyright 2008 Pearson Education.

Blue Gears and SearchVMware Pro Blogs: http://www.astroarch.com/wiki/index.php/Blog_Roll

Top Virtualization Security Links: http://www.astroarch.com/wiki/index.php/Top_Virtualization_Security_Links

[andromeda7383]

Hi!

The NIC for the Dell Precision Workstation 390 is a "broadcom netxtreme 57xx gigabit controller". I browsed internet and found out that the NIC is supported.

But Iam not sure why it installed fine the first time - ive been using it for 3 months and now when I want to reinstall it gives this error.

Trying to find out what could have changed for this error to pop up. Ofcourse I can use a different supportted NIC.

Thank you

[Texiwill]

Hello,

Most likely it is a Firmware issue. I had a similar problem and had to update the firmware on my NIC to make things work. Try that.

Best regards,

Edward L. Haletky

VMware Communities User Moderator

====

Author of the book 'VMWare ESX Server in the Enterprise: Planning and Securing Virtualization Servers', Copyright 2008 Pearson Education.

Blue Gears and SearchVMware Pro Blogs: http://www.astroarch.com/wiki/index.php/Blog_Roll

Top Virtualization Security Links: http://www.astroarch.com/wiki/index.php/Top_Virtualization_Security_Links

[andromeda7383]

Hi! The BIOS version presently I have is 2.2.0 (03/29/07) the new BIOS version available on dell site is the version 2.6.0 (5/22/08). I have downloaded the new verison and updated the BIOS via a floppy. Rebooted and tried to install but same issue.

The firmare and BIOS the same? If not - how can I update the firmware of my NIC? I see the drivers on the Dell site for the NIC but I guess I need to have an O.S prior to applying them.

Thank you for your assistance, appreciate it.

[Texiwill]

Hello,

BIOS is for the computer, firmware would be for the specific PCI cards. If it is an on board card then most likely it is part of the BIOS. There should be a BIOS and firmware CDROM/floppy available from Dell for use. You do not want 'drivers' just BIOS and firmware.

It may be time to call Dell for assistance.

Best regards,

Edward L. Haletky

VMware Communities User Moderator

====

Author of the book 'VMWare ESX Server in the Enterprise: Planning and Securing Virtualization Servers', Copyright 2008 Pearson Education.

Blue Gears and SearchVMware Pro Blogs: http://www.astroarch.com/wiki/index.php/Blog_Roll

Top Virtualization Security Links: http://www.astroarch.com/wiki/index.php/Top_Virtualization_Security_Links