Rebooting ESX host from VIC hangs, shutdown cmd fails, remote host, read console screen?

[Scott-P]

Tried to reboot a host and initiated it from the VI client. I remember last time it hung at the shutdown step - I think it was something like "stopping vmware-autostart" so it is probably that. My questions are:

Is there a way to read the screen remotely to verify?

Is there a way to reboot remotely using "killall" or something (already tried "shutdown -r now" - doesn't work since it is hung)?

[kjb007 · Accepted solution]

You should be able to attach a serial console, if you want to be able to view the screen remotely in case of a failure such as this, but the rest would require you to have some kind of lights out management for the server type you are using. Sun has LOM, HP has iLO, Dell has DRAC, to name a few. Otherwise, you can also get some kind of a managed UPS device, which can help you power cycle remotely as well.

-KjB

[Scott-P]

Thanks. Just thought there were some other tricks.