I have a lab and a production VCSA 6.5. They both fail repeatedly trying to apply photon patches. I have tried updating from the online repository as well as downloading the ISO and attaching it to the VCSA DVD/CD from the ESX datastore repository.
Lab is version 6.5.0.10000 Build Number 5973321, vCenter Server with an embedded Platform Services Controller. Trying to apply 6.5.0.11000 Build Number 6816762.
2:16:56 PM: Upgrade Failed
2:16:56 PM: Complete starting services
2:11:13 PM: Start starting services
2:11:12 PM: Start updating packages
2:11:12 PM: Complete running pre-install scripts
2:09:02 PM: Start running pre-install scripts
2:09:02 PM: Complete testing update
2:09:01 PM: Start testing update
2:09:01 PM: Complete preparing VCSA for installation
2:09:01 PM: Start preparing VCSA for installation
2:09:01 PM: Complete Staging packages
2:08:55 PM: Start staging packages
2:08:55 PM: Complete validating update packages
2:08:55 PM: Complete validating update
2:08:55 PM: Start validating update
2:08:55 PM: Start validating update packages
Both logged in as root. With the prod VCSA, after trying 6-7 times, it finally updated. However, I would like to find the cause to resolve it.
Please advise what logs I can look at to determine where the failure resides.
Thanks in advance for any guidance.
Have you checked the compatibility of the patches with the version you are trying to upgrade to.
Check /storage/log/vmware/upgrade and /storage/log/vmware/applmgmt for the manifests from the update process.
VCSA does a check of the repository for valid updates. It is the VMware recommended upgrade/patch package for that version of the VCSA.
Hi, just had this same issue, turns out a misconfig in a charting subsystem was causing java dumps to build up and consume all space in /storage/log. See here for more, may be related to your case: https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2151394
I was just digging for the same thing. I found the /var/log/vmware/applmgmt/software-packages.log logs a temp file location where you can follow the steps during the upgrade:
I had what appeared to be a very similar issue. Upgrade failed, no matter what method we tried.
Turned out to be an expired root password. Check it like so. Your mileage may vary.
Syntax: chage --list username (or) chage -l username
Disable password expiration and clear password history for VMware vcenter appliance
chage -M -1 root; echo "" > /etc/security/opasswd
Attach complete software-packages.log file to this thread.
Thank you cabernocht! I was trying to update from 6.5 U2 20000 to 6.5 U2 22000 and was being disconnected during the "running pre-scripts" phase and the web GUI would not come back up.
Your password expiration post solved it for me. The only thing I would note is that I had to reset the root password (with 'passwd root' at CLI shell) before I could disable expiry.
After your fix, I tried the update again. The web GUI still disconnected during the "running pre-scripts" phase, but when I connected with SSH I was able to verify the log (with 'less /var/log/vmware/applmgmt/software-packages.log') and see that it had been applied. It had tried to output that the update had succeeded and that I should reboot but it had turned the web GUI off during the update so I'm not sure how that was supposed to work. Anyway, I ran 'reboot' at the shell and after a few minutes, I was able to connect to the web gui at port 5480 again and it reported the new version.
Thanks!
Hehe. Awesome. I discovered that tidbit way late at night, on the phone with VMware Support. "Robin" deserves the credit.
- t2