restoreConfiguration A general system error occurred: Internal error

[umarzuki]

[root@esx03:~] vim-cmd hostsvc/firmware/restore_config force /tmp/configBundle.t

gz

(vmodl.fault.SystemError) {

   faultCause = (vmodl.MethodFault) null,

   reason = "Internal error",

   msg = "Received SOAP response fault from [<cs p:1f2b1ff0, TCP:localhost:80>]: restoreConfiguration

A general system error occurred: Internal error"

}

[root@esx03:~] ls -l /tmp/

total 292

-rw-r--r--    1 root     root         23850 Feb 15 08:26 configBundle.tgz

-rw-r--r--    1 root     root             0 Feb 15 07:31 mili2d.log

drwxr-xr-x    1 root     root           512 Feb 15 07:31 nfsgssd_krb5cc

-rw-------    1 root     root            40 Feb 15 08:30 probe.session

-rw-r--r--    1 root     root        262144 Feb 15 07:33 qlnative_shared.dat

drwx------    1 root     root           512 Feb 15 07:32 vmware-root

restoring backup from esxi 5.5 to esxi 6.0 failed even with force

I also tried using vsphere cli 6.0 but also failed

C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware vSphere CLI\bin>vicfg-cfgbackup.pl --server=10.1.1.3 --username=root -l c:\Users\administrator\Downloads\configBundle-ESX0

3.tgz -f

Enter password:

The restore operation will reboot the host.

Type 'yes' to continue:

yes

Uploading config bundle to configBundle.tgz ...

Performing restore ...

Restore failed: A general system error occurred: Internal error

Exiting maintenance mode ...

Any idea where else to check?

[erikverbruggen · Accepted solution]

According the this KB article to restore a configuration the build number of the host where the backup has been created on, has to been the same as on the new host.

https://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=20421...

[trungdtbk]

You may want to try this. Assume you have a backup from a source host A and want to restore to a target host B.

On B, make a config backup. Copy the Manifest file from the B's backup and override one in the A's backup.

Now you can copy A's backup to B's /tmp/configBundle.tgz and run command: vim-cmd -d info /hostsvc/firmware/restore_config 1 /tmp/configBundle.tgz force to restore it.

Use 1 to override the UUID. It probably failed because the release levels were different between the two.

[VirtuallyChad]

Or alternately, you can use the force switch:

Using the vSphere PowerCLI

Note: When restoring configuration data, the build number of the host must match the build number of the host that created the backup file. Use the -force option to override this requirement.

reference: Backup of & Restore of ESXi Configuration | Welcome to VMware KB Blog

[scott28tt]

The first post in this 2017 thread mentioned that the user had tried the force switch.