helper world consuming 50% CPU

[mewert]

Greetings,

I have a newly built ESX 3.5 Server running on a SunFire 40 Dual AMD Single Core system. I have zero (0) Virtual Machines running on it and noticed that in the VI Client that 50% of the CPU was being consumed. Delving into things further with ESXTOP I discovered that helper is indeed consuming 50% of the CPUs. Does anyone know what is causing this and how to make it stop? Or how to further troubleshoot the problem? With no VMs running it shouldn't be consuming 2 Ghz of CPU horsepower

Thanks in advance!

M

[jmlemmer]

vbdino,

Thanks for your advice. The support cases with VMware and SUN are still open. I will try to get them work together on the case and I will insist that they do not close the case until we get a solution.

I will let you know the outcome.

[VBDINO]

I removed my two ports ethernet card on slot #5 and the helper is now quiet.

[ktarullo]

jmlemmer,

Thanks for posting your issues with the x6250. I too have come upon this same issue, at a client site no less. Has there been an update tot he situation?

Please let me know what you have found.

ktarullo

[jmlemmer]

Hi ktarullo,

Unfortunately the problem is still not solved. The support cases are

still open at Vmware and at SUN.

According to Vmware support it seems to be a BIOS issue with the X6250.

SUN is looking into it.

I will post an update as soon as the problem is solved.

Brgds,

JM.

[jmlemmer]

Ktarullo,

I just received the information from SUN support that they identified

the issue and are working on a BIOS fix.

Brgds,

JM.

[ktarullo]

jmlemmer,

Thank you for the update and staying on top of this issue. Did they identify what the specific issue was? Does Sun have a speculative date for the BIOS update release?

KT

[jmlemmer]

Apparently it's related to some PCI slots being advertised as

hot-pluggable, but which are not.

No date for the BIOS so far, but I'll let you know as soon as I know

more.

JM.

[ktarullo]

JM,

Have you had any communication back from Sun as to when they will update the BIOS on the x6250? Did you figure out a workaround?

If you have hit a roadblock with Sun I may be able to assist in that regard, my company have a certain level of influence with getting Sun to move fixes along. Maybe we could communicate offline about this?

KT

[jmlemmer]

Hello KT,

Sorry for the late reply, but I have been out of office for 2 weeks.

A new bios (X6250 FW 1.3.1) is available since a couple of days that should solve the issue

You can download it under :

http://www.sun.com/servers/blades/downloads.jsp

I have not been able to test it yet.

Brgds,

JM.

[jmlemmer]

Hello ktarullo,

Sorry for the late reply, but I have been out of office for 2 weeks.

A new bios (X6250 FW 1.3.1) is available since a couple of days that should solve the issue

You can download it under :

http://www.sun.com/servers/blades/downloads.jsp

I have not been able to test it yet.

Brgds,

JM.

[jmlemmer]

Hello ktarullo,

Sorry for the late reply, but I have been out of office for 2 weeks.

A new bios (X6250 FW 1.3.1) is available since a couple of days that should solve the issue

You can download it under :

I have not been able to test it yet.

Brgds,

JM.

[jmlemmer]

Hello ktarullo,

Sorry for the late reply, but I have been out of office for 2 weeks.

A new bios (X6250 FW 1.3.1) is available since a couple of days that should solve the issue

You can download it under :

I have not been able to test it yet.

Brgds,

JM.

[jmlemmer]

Hello ktarullo,

Sorry for the late reply, but I have been out of office for 2 weeks.

A new bios (X6250 FW 1.3.1) is available since a couple of days that should solve the issue

You can download it under :

http://www.sun.com/servers/blades/downloads.jsp

I have not been able to test it yet.

Brgds,

JM.

[jmlemmer]

Hello ktarullo,

Sorry for the late reply, but I have been out of office for 2 weeks.

A new bios (X6250 FW 1.3.1) is available since a couple of days that should solve the issue

You can download it under :

http://www.sun.com/servers/blades/downloads.jsp

I have not been able to test it yet.

Brgds,

JM.

[jmlemmer]

Hello KT,

I was able to test the BIOS and it unfortunately does not solve the problem. Although SUN claimed that the BIOS with fix would be released first week of July, the BIOS (1.3) that got released early July does not contain this fix. I asked SUN and apparently the release for the BIOS with the fix (1.3.1) is now foreseen within the next 2-3 weeks. They are however willing to give it already to customers upon request.

Brgds,

JM.

[jmlemmer]

Hello KT,

The firmware which solves the problem for the SUN X6250 has been reeleased and is available for download from SUN's website.

Sun Blade X6250 Server Module 1.3.1 for Firmware

Brgds,

JM.

[ktarullo]

Excellent! I am not sure when I will have the opportunity to test it. The system is in production now.

Please let me know how you fare.

Again, thank you for the continuous followup

KT

[ktarullo]

JM,

Have you had the opportunity to test this FW upgrade? Thank you for the feedback.

KT

[jmlemmer]

Hi KT,

Yes, we have implemented the FW on all our X6250's and it works fine.

However, stay away from ESX 3.5 Update 2 for the moment. We have

installed it

on a couple of X6250's and since then they are behaving oddly (hosts

disconnect

spordically from VirtualCenter / some processes like kipmi0,cimserver

using up 100%

of console CPU ).

Brgds,

JM.