PSOD after update ESXi

[ne0x86]

Hi to all, im triying to understand whats happened with my little server when I tried to update ESXi. I hope you can help me.

I have one HPE ML30 G9 with ESX 6.5 HPE custom versión. Yesterday I tried to update to 6.7U2.

I ran esxcli software vib install -d "/xxx.zip" via putty, all seems to be ok, but when I reboot and ESXi boots, I see purple screen of death with this msg: "two file system with same UUID"

So then I try to reboot again but server wont boot ESXI anymore, It try to boot from LAN like no disk to boot. I tried to reboot 2 times with no results and then I select manual boot on bios, run boot on HPE RAID controller and then boot ESXI 6.5. Seems to reverted udpate.

Now runs stable but I dont know what will happens on next server reboot.

Whats my fault? Use install instead update? Dont put server on maintenance mode? Im turning crazy trying to understand what happened.

Any help would be too much appreciated. Thanks

[tayfundeger]

Hi,

I came across the error below, but my situation was a little different. I had this error if the motherboard of a physical server was changed.

"two file system with same UUID"

This error is caused by partition-related problems. How was ESXi installed before? Can you give details of how the operation was done? In addition, you need to install fresh to get rid of it. You can open and clean the partition with Live CD, but this is a non-recommended and risky process.

Thanks.

[ne0x86]

ESXi 6.5 HPE custom was fresh installed 10 months ago mounting the .iso on iLO without any troubles.

[NathanosBlightc]

As VMware said: "The UUID is read by the ESX host from the SMBIOS. It can be viewed in the Managed Object Browser through the link:

https://<host>/mob/?moid=ha%2dhost&doPath=hardware%2esystemInfo

This UUID is not generated by VMware. It is unique to the hardware and is set in the BIOS by the vendor. The output of the dmidecode command may show other examples of missing data."

Use install instead update?

I think if you used update

syntax, maybe there is no UUID duplication was happened ...

Dont put server on maintenance mode

I don't think so ... it's not related to this matter

[ne0x86]

I ask about install / update command because I read here VMware Knowledge Base   this:

• Using the install command overwrites the existing packages in the system with contents of the patch you are installing, including installing new packages and removing old packages. The install command may downgrade packages on the system and should be used with caution. If required, the install command can be used to downgrade a system (only for image profiles) when the --allow-downgrade flag is set.
  Using the install command overwrites the existing packages in the system with contents of the patch you are installing, including installing new packages and removing old packages. The install command may downgrade packages on the system and should be used with caution. If required, the install command can be used to downgrade a system (only for image profiles) when the --allow-downgrade flag is set.

Caution: The install method has the possibility of overwriting existing drivers. If you are using third-party ESXi images or the ESXi host is part of a vSAN cluster, VMware recommends using the update method to prevent an unbootable state or a vSAN node that no longer contributes storage to the cluster.

So then im comfused with command should I use. You mean in your reply that If I use update command the duplicated UUI error will not happened?

[NathanosBlightc]

It's absolutely correct ... install syntax can downgrade the host too. So must be careful about using it (I did it before but I forgot to tell you)

I said it may be the cause of this problem, not bad to use with update against install ... Only similar situation that I had (with your issue) is when a host in one of our projects has an installed old version of ESXi in local storage and IT staff installed new version on the mounted USB drive, so when we want to upgrade the host, by mistake, we upgraded the ESXi of the local drive and see similar error as you did ... maybe it's related to another exist ESXi on one of your hosts' storages... As the VMware said : "If you are installing ESXi on a disk that contains a previous installation of ESXi or ESX, or a VMFS datastore, the installer provides you with options for upgrading"

So it's not bad to check all of your existing VMFS and connected volumes/LUNs  ...