Hi, I am a true newbie.
Every so often my ESXi will crash....dead.
I have obtained a copy of the dump file but I really need some help.
Many thanks
Jonathan
Since you have a dump file, we can assume that it is not "hanging" or "freezing" or "powering-off", but encountering an unrecoverable error and dumping the memory. Can you confirm that all the hardware is on the HCL? I've seen similar behavior when a faulty memory module is installed. You may want to troubleshoot by running memory and hard drive tests from a live CD
crashing in what sense?
Welcome to the Forums,
Can you confirm that you Hardware is on the HCL, and Post your dump file, also take a picture of the PSOD and post that too.
Hi,
If you have support contract with VMware, file support request for this issue along with core dump.
Regards
Mohammed
Jonathan,
Your PCPU received NMI (Non Maskable Interrupt). NMI is not controlled by ESXi operating system. Mostly it is a hardware issue. If you have a valid support contract with VMware open a SR with the log bundle.
I wonder if the old 4.0 error is coming back. Although you're running ESXi 5.x, your PSoD seems to fit the symptoms of the following 4.0 KB:
VMware KB 1034041 (ESXi 4.x, but useful background info):
Note: if we believe the above KB is related (probably not), then based on your PSoD it seems that pCPU2 flagged the error; However, the offending workload was running from pCPU1 and may be related to a particular VM's configuration or workload (speculation). Some log review would need to be done. See KB for more detail. Also, ensure your BIOS settings are correct for CPU virtualization settings (i.e. all on).
If you are running on HP hardware consider the following host level config change for this known issue:
VMware KB 2000091 (for ESXi 5.x and HP servers with PCC Support)
Good luck and keep us posted.
PS - When in doubt a support case is always the way to go. VMware Support has custom tools to analyze these dumps (speaking of which you may need to work on fixing your dump location based on the 'out of space' message at the bottom of the PSoD? Not sure).