ESXi lost configuration on reboot

[wolfwolf]

Hi,

Recently we've installed ESXi 4.1 Update 1 embedded version on the internal SD card (SanDisk 2GB) for a few Dell PowerEdge M610 blade servers using the ESXi recovery CD from Dell, also available for download from the VMware site:

http://downloads.vmware.com/d/details/dell_esxi_recoverycd/ZHcqYip3ZWJkKmV3

Yesterday we rebooted the servers to make sure everything would come back up.

To our surprise when ESXi come back up on each server, the whole configuration was gone: IP address, server name, password, everything was lost, the configuration was back as if we just installed ESXi.

Any ideas why that happened?

We did a proper reboot for ESXi: one of the servers was rebooted using vCenter, the others were rebooted using the ESXi DCUI using the F11 key.

Before the reboot, one of the ESXi server was up with its configuration for a few days and was managed through vCenter, the others were installed an hour or so before the reboot and weren't connected to vCenter yet: no matter how long they were up, all of them lost the configuration after the reboot.

And we've been unable to reproduce the issue so far, we've reconfigured ESXi on a couple of those servers today and rebooted them from the ESX DCUI: each of them came back online just fine this time, the configuration is still there.

We didn't reconfigure all of them, let me know if there is anything we can check on those still untouched after the reboot to tell how come they lost the configuration.

Thanks.

[DSTAVERT]

Sorry your introduction had a rocky start.

As for not seeing anything like this: the world of technology is full of similar tales. Stick around long enough and you will have much to laugh or cry about.

[robfish]

My problem is slightly different but I have not found a better thread.

I am new to ESXi. I have inherited a Dell server set up by a colleague who is no longer with us.

After rebooting it seems to revert to the state before my changes (password and new VM's)

(i.e. the changes made previously by my colleague are there so it it not the first reboot problem experienced by others.)

I can SSH to the machine (I tried connecting a screen and keyboard but the keyboard did not seem to work)

and I think the problem may be something to do with mounting the bootbank partitions.

~ # ls -l | grep vmfs
lrwxrwxrwx    1 root     root                 49 Sep 27 05:15 altbootbank -> /vmfs/volumes/65092bef-de8a06b5-22db-2bbbc32dc3d2
lrwxrwxrwx    1 root     root                 49 Sep 27 05:15 bootbank -> /vmfs/volumes/ff060de6-cecc88e5-4d14-8726d7ed0132
lrwxrwxrwx    1 root     root                 49 Sep 27 05:15 store -> /vmfs/volumes/3c3693e8-f77a642a-1910-5c6bdcb26d3a
drwxr-xr-x    1 root     root                512 Sep 27 05:14 vmfs
~ #
~ # esxcfg-rescan vmhba1
~ #
~ # ls -l /bootbank/
ls: /bootbank/: No such file or directory
~ #

Any suggestions?

[jjgunn]

If possible, rebuild the machine using the link in my post from June 16th and burn the A04 version of the ISO from Dell. I haven't had any issues with my fresh builds.

[robfish]

Thanks for this suggestion. I had thought about it.

Will all of the current VM's be retained and I would just need to add them to the inventory again?

[jjgunn]

Yes, as long as the VM's are located on external storage. If they're located on local storage, they would be wiped out unless you save them first.

[Terry3]

Gentlemen, I am having this issue and I would wager a guess this is related to Dell Openmanage software installation, or the actual ESXi ISO used for setup.

I installed ESXi 4.1 348481 using the ISO from VMware website. Then configured Networking, NTP, storage, SNMP and as a last step, installed Dell Openmanage OM-SrvAdmin-Dell-Web-6.5.0-2247.VIB-ESX41i_A01.zip. After this is done I rebooted the host, lost my configuration, then I ended up at this forum post.

I haven't had a thorough chance to test this, but it's either the VMware ISO or Dell OM 6.5.0 along with first reboot. Subsequent reboots don't clear the configuration. If I get a chance I will post back with results.