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clark643
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ESXi 6.7 loses config after reboot

Hi everyone,

I searched all over the web for two days, but I still haven't found anything that helped to solve my case.

I have ESXi 6.7 installed on a USB drive running on a DELL Poweredge R710. I know this particular version of ESXi is not supported by my machine, but except for the fact that loses configuration on every reboot I didn’t have any other issue.

Long story short:

The bootbank folder points to tmp

bootbank -> /tmp

while locker and scratch point to an actual data store

locker -> /vmfs/volumes/5f9cb458……..-……..a12/.locker

scratch -> /vmfs/volumes/5f9cb458-…………….a12/.locker

The boot.cfg file doesn't exist at all.

I did some troubleshooting by following those KBs: https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2149444      https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/51907

Even by appending the ‘devListStabilityCount’ parameter in the ESXi boot options, with a delay of up to 300 seconds, the storage-path-claim service is still not delayed and always starts before the datastores are accessible (see logs below).

Without appending the ‘devListStabilityCount’ parameter, the delay between the below logs is always a minute of each other (always ‘storage-path-claimfirst, then…The datastore is now accessible on this host.

[root@localhost:~] grep storage-path-claim /var/log/sysboot.log

[2020-11-03 01:01:31.851747 - 2020-11-03 01:04:54.502981] sysboot: storage-path-claim

[root@localhost:~] grep 'mounted.*rw' var/run/log/vobd.log|tail -1

2020-11-03T01:05:55.167Z: [vmfsCorrelator] 284840394us: [esx.audit.vmfs.volume.mounted] File system [MainStorage, 5f9cb458-…………….. on volume 5f9cb458-7d8b9622-………… has been mounted in 'rw' mode. The datastore is now accessible on this host.

If it helps, this is what I get when I issue the below command.

[root@localhost:~] localcli --plugin-dir=/usr/lib/vmware/esxcli/int/ boot system restore --bootbanks

VmkCtl: Did not find a valid boot device, symlinking /bootbank to /tmp

Did anyone see this issue before and knows a solution for it?

I will much appreciate any kind of help and advice on how to tackle this.

Thanks in advance!

1 Solution

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clark643
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I resolved the issue by installing the supported version of ESXi for my machine (ESXi 6.0).

Thanks everyone for your help.

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6 Replies
scott28tt
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Moderator: Thread moved to the ESXi area.


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Although I am a VMware employee I contribute to VMware Communities voluntarily (ie. not in any official capacity)
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a_p_
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Welcome to the Community,

please run /sbin/auto-backup.sh from the command line to see whether it any throws errors.

For details see https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2001780

André

clark643
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Hi and thanks for your replay Smiley Happy

The /sbin/auto-backup.sh command seems to work fine. I can also see it working every hour in the /var/log/syslog.log .

/sbin/auto-backup.sh output below:

[root@localhost:~] /sbin/auto-backup.sh

--- /etc/security/access.conf

+++ /tmp/auto-backup.2099680//etc/security/access.conf

@@ -1,6 +0,0 @@

-# This file is autogenerated and must not be edited.

-+:dcui:ALL

-+:root:ALL

-+:vpxuser:ALL

-+:vslauser:ALL

--:ALL:ALL

Saving current state in /bootbank

Clock updated.

Time: 11:34:11   Date: 11/03/2020   UTC

I noticed something when rebooting the ESXi host without appending devListStabilityCount’ in the options at start.

The 'devListStabilityCount' seems just to delay the storage-path-claim as you can see from my previous posted logs and the below logs. Looks like the volumes finish mounting always after storage-path-claim, regardless of the devListStabilityCount’ value.

[root@localhost:~] grep storage-path-claim /var/log/sysboot.log

[2020-11-03 11:29:19.224105 - 2020-11-03 11:29:27.487321] sysboot: storage-path-claim

[root@localhost:~] grep 'mounted.*rw' var/run/log/vobd.log|tail -1

2020-11-03T11:30:28.088Z: [vmfsCorrelator] 89736214us: [esx.audit.vmfs.volume.mounted] File system [MainStorage, 5f9cb458-84b8d144-13fe-b8ac6f8e7a12] on volume 5f9cb458-7d8b9622-889e-b8ac6f8e7a12 has been mounted in 'rw' mode. The datastore is now accessible on this host.

Without delay option: [2020-11-03 11:29:19.224105 - 2020-11-03 11:29:27.487321]

With delay option of 300 seconds (devListStabilityCount=300): [2020-11-03 01:01:31.851747 - 2020-11-03 01:04:54.502981]

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clark643
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I resolved the issue by installing the supported version of ESXi for my machine (ESXi 6.0).

Thanks everyone for your help.

Ruroy
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Hi,

Will reinstalling other esxi will result to lost of hosted virtual thanks

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azlans27
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No. Choose preserve existing VMFS in process.

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