VMware Cloud Community
w6vms
Contributor
Contributor

Unable to upgrade ESXi4.1 to ESXi5.0

On vCenter Server 5.0 I added a host, currently running 4.1. I then created an upgrade baseline with 5.0, attached it to the host, ran a scan and was told that a SCSI driver was incompatible and would be removed during the upgrade. I'm fine with that, since I don't have any SCSI controllers on the host. I tried to remediate the host, checked the box to remove incompatible software, but the remediation fails, due to incompatible software on the host.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

Reply
0 Kudos
11 Replies
AndreTheGiant
Immortal
Immortal

Was a clean ESXi or was upgrade from a 3.5?

Have you tried with the ESXi installation DVD?

Andre

Andrew | http://about.me/amauro | http://vinfrastructure.it/ | @Andrea_Mauro
Reply
0 Kudos
w6vms
Contributor
Contributor

It was a clean 4.1 installation.

I have not tried the ISO DVD, the host is 2500 miles from where I am, so this is not practical at all.

Reply
0 Kudos
DSTAVERT
Immortal
Immortal

If your server has an IPMI interface (ILO, DRAC etc) you may be able to use virtual media and install from ISO.

-- David -- VMware Communities Moderator
Reply
0 Kudos
w6vms
Contributor
Contributor

No IPMI, unfortunately.

Reply
0 Kudos
DSTAVERT
Immortal
Immortal

Understand that SATA and SAS can and an will be detected as SCSI. If you know the device that fails and are sure it isn't your active disk controller, use shell access and try the vihostupdate utility to remove the driver.

-- David -- VMware Communities Moderator
Reply
0 Kudos
w6vms
Contributor
Contributor

The driver that's listed as incompatible is some 3Ware controller, the only disk controller on the host is the one on the motherboard (not 3Ware), and there's only one local disk, a FLASH SATA drive used to boot VMWare. All the storage is external (iSCSI).

Reply
0 Kudos
DSTAVERT
Immortal
Immortal

What modle server do you have? Is it on the HCL? http://vmware.com/go/hcl Make sure all embedded components are on the HCL.

-- David -- VMware Communities Moderator
Reply
0 Kudos
a_p_
Leadership
Leadership

ESXi 4.1 Update 1 includes  the 3ware SCSI  2.26.08.036vm40 and Neterion vxge  2.0.28.21239-p3.0.1.2 drivers which might be the reason for the issue you see. Are you able to access the host by either SSH or vCLI to run a vihostudate.pl --server <servername> -q to see which additional vibs are installed!?

André

Reply
0 Kudos
w6vms
Contributor
Contributor

a.p.:

The output of vihostupdate.pl follows:

---------Bulletin ID--------- -----Installed----- ----------------Summary-----------------
ESXi410-201107401-BG          2011-08-13T18:02:51 Updates Firmware
ESXi410-Update01              2011-08-13T18:02:51 VMware ESXi 4.1 Complete Update 1
ESXi410-201107402-BG          2011-08-13T18:02:51 Updates VMware Tools
C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware vSphere CLI\bin>
Reply
0 Kudos
w6vms
Contributor
Contributor

So, 4.1 update 1 includes the two drivers that the 5.0 upgrade complains about.

How do I remove them?

Reply
0 Kudos
w6vms
Contributor
Contributor

Any thoughts on removing the offending drivers?

Reply
0 Kudos