Copy Bootbank files to Altbootbank

[KurtPCguy]

Hello and excuse me if this question has been asked as Im new here and a relative newbie to linux and esxi programs.  I attempted an upgrade today from 6.0 esxi to 6.7U2.  I received an error 39 directory not empty during install.  After reboot and another attempt to upgrade I found that the upgrade option was missing.  I could however do an install and preserve the datastores.  So my question is if I do an "install preserving my datastores" what will I need to do to get my 3 VM's back online.  I also saw some posts about copying my bootbank directory to my altbootbank directory.  I would like some step by step directions for both approaches.  Any help is greatly appreciated.

[daphnissov]

First, before trying anything crazy, what build of 6.0 are you on currently? Is this lab hardware? What hardware is running here?

[KurtPCguy]

Esxi 6.0 standard update 1 (3029758)  Client Server with and Exchange VM, Server Domain VM

[KurtPCguy]

Xen 3.2 V3 with 32gb ram on an ASus server motherboard

[daphnissov]

Is this lab hardware? What hardware is running here?

[KurtPCguy]

Esxi 6.0 standard update 1 (3029758)  Client Server with and Exchange VM, Server Domain VM, Xen 3.2 V3 with 32gb ram on an ASus server motherboard

[daphnissov]

ASus server motherboard

Can you be more specific? That covers a couple hundred possibilities. And this is all lab hardware, yes?

[KurtPCguy]

Not sure how specific you want me to be. Yes lab hardware

[daphnissov]

How about the model of your board?

[KurtPCguy]

I am sorry but I donot have the asus model number available as I am away from the server at present time  Was hoping to get some suggestions on my next steps before getting back to lab

[KurtPCguy]

Asustek Pro-v Series 2015 Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E3-1231 v3 @ 3.40GHz 32GB Ram

[daphnissov]

My suggested next steps would be to, even though this is lab hardware, validate on the HCL that your board is even semi-capable of supporting 6.7. Assuming that it is, my next suggested step would be to take full backups of all VMs running on this host and store them in some other location before attempting any upgrade. Further than that, I'd attempt an upgrade from 6.0 => 6.5 and see if that succeeds. If so, you can try to go to 6.7 and see what happens.

[daphnissov]

There are no supported ASUS boards with a Xeon E3-2xxx gen CPU (although the CPU itself is still supported as of 6.7), so you'll have to roll the dice and see what happens.

[KurtPCguy]

Like I was saying the upgrade failed with an error 39 directory not empty, when I rebooted it no longer gives me an option to upgrade, only to install and preserve datastore or to install clean.  I had saw another post where the author mentioned that he copied his /bootbank directory to his /altbootbank directory and then the upgrade option came back.  I was hoping to get some instruction on how to do that so I could get the upgrade option back.  I would assume that if I do not have the option to 6.7 to upgrade I wouldn't have it trying to upgrade to 6.5 either.  Can you tell me what the advantage to upgrading would be anyway.  My concern is that I am moving the 2 VM's to SSD from conventional drives and want to make sure all is compatible and will take advantage of the faster speeds of the SSD drives.  I have seen some post where there are issues with slowdowns in some cases

[daphnissov]

Like I was saying the upgrade failed with an error 39 directory not empty

I have not seen this message and, without logs, don't know what to make of it. Because you don't have logs or a screenshot, it's kind of a moot point.

I would assume that if I do not have the option to 6.7 to upgrade I wouldn't have it trying to upgrade to 6.5 either.

You shouldn't make such an assumption, because 6.5 and 6.7 have major differences. It also depends. How were you attempting the upgrade? By booting off an ISO file? There are other ways to conduct an upgrade of an ESXi host.

Can you tell me what the advantage to upgrading would be anyway.

Let me turn that question back on you instead and ask you why you want to upgrade. You don't need to upgrade to 6.7 to migrate VMs from spinning rust to SSDs.

[KurtPCguy]

I do appreciate your quick response!  May be better to stay where I am?

[KurtPCguy]

That is what I was wondering if no advantage to upgrade and SSD will be fine where I am then I would think it would be best to stay where I am then.  I tried the upgrade using a CD of the ISO.  It error-ed at 19% with a code 39 directory not empty in volume.  here is the link to the article I found but there is no direction

No 'UPGRADE option available after failed installation of ESXi 6.0 on a stand-alone host

[daphnissov]

Since you have a difficult time answering my questions the first time I couldn't say

[KurtPCguy]

Like I said pretty new to this and was not understanding at first what you were asking but am very appreciative for your help and suggestions

[scott28tt]

Moderator note: Moved to ESXi