NUC8I5BEH: Config lost during reboot

[yoines]

I have a NUC8I5BEH with StandAlone esxi 7(free version) installed on a USB-stick.

Every host-config is lost during and the host is returned to state of installation.

I have also tried to add a USB-Network-interface but it seems like connected USB-devices is not shown in vSphere.

CLI "lsusb" show all connected devices.

I guess it may is some variant of this case => https://serverfault.com/a/557950

How can I solve this?

[continuum]

try the autobackup.sh script and then check if state.tgz gets an updated timestamp - monitor the commandline forerror messages

[yoines]

Thanks;

state.tgz is updated with new timestamp when I do a auto-backup.sh.

Some cli-output

[root@localhost:~] df -h
Filesystem   Size   Used Available Use% Mounted on
VMFS-6     931.2G 273.5G    657.7G  29% /vmfs/volumes/DataStore11 => Local storage
VMFS-6       1.8T   1.4G      1.8T   0% /vmfs/volumes/DataStore12 => Local storage
VMFS-5       1.2T   1.2T     29.0M 100% /vmfs/volumes/VM31 => iSCSI storage
VMFS-6     349.8G  27.7G    322.0G   8% /vmfs/volumes/VMSTORE32 => iSCSI storage
VMFS-6       3.6T   1.5G      3.6T   0% /vmfs/volumes/DS02VMStore30 => iSCSI storage
[root@localhost:~] lsusb
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 0e0f:8003 VMware, Inc. Root Hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0951:1665 Kingston Technology Digital DataTraveler SE9 64GB => Bootdevice for eSXI7.

=======> =======> Wrong size detected, is actually a DTSE9H/16GB-stick.
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 8087:0aaa Intel Corp. 
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 13b1:0041 Linksys Gigabit Ethernet Adapter => Not working USB-NIC
[root@localhost:~] auto-backup.sh 
Files /etc/vmware/dvsdata.db and /tmp/auto-backup.530430//etc/vmware/dvsdata.db differ
Saving current state in /bootbank
Clock updated.
Time: 04:32:36   Date: 05/13/2020   UTC
[root@localhost:~] ls -l /bootbank/
total 64
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root            96 May 12 18:45 jumpstrt.gz
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root         57876 May 13 04:32 state.tgz
[root@localhost:~] 

[yoines]

And the issue is still the same; Config is lost on every boot.

Anu advise or solution?

[vFouad · Accepted solution]

Your install looks bit off...

/bootbank should have 94 entries

check you have a valid UUID for `esxcli system boot device get`

and that the UUID appears in `ls /vmfs/volumes`

Otherwise your system is losing access to the boot device after the kernel is loaded...

Also check out https://www.virten.net/2020/04/homelab-will-esxi-7-0-run-on-intel-nuc/

There is information on the usb driver fling that may get your usb Nic working

Assuming it is one of the supported chipsets...

http://en.techinfodepot.shoutwiki.com/wiki/Linksys_USB3GIG​ suggests that your Nic has a RTL8153 chipset so the usb Nic fling should work for you...

But I would fix the usb boot issue first...

You may have a problem with your Kingston USB device... maybe try another usb stick if you have one handy...

[yoines]

Thanks;

I had to try 2 different USB-sticks before I found one that worked.

The USB-nic is also operational now.

Y