Dell PowerEdge server reboot itself

[jamesnb1]

Hello everyone,

I am pretty new to vSphere and vCenter so thank you in advance for your patience.

I recently install ESXi 7.0 and vSphere Client on our PowerEdge server, using dual-SD card module (128GB sandisk - raid 1) and install the latest DellEMC image from VMware

VMware esxi version: 7.0.2, 17867351

vCenter version: 7.0.2.00200 build number 17958471, patch name: VC-7.0U2b

Server hardware:

1/ Dual xeon silver processors

2/ 64GB RAM

3/ 2 x RAID 1, one for the system and one for the data

4/ Dual SD-card module, with 2 x 128 sandisk extreme (for installation of ESXi 7.0)

Everything works just fine. Except the following

1/ The server seems to boot iself after a while. The first time it did was every other days. Then we reinstalled it and this time, it ran for about 8 days before did another reboot itself again

2/ The time cannot be adjusted: It always use the UTC timezone even after I tried to set the time to manual or using ntp auto auto update.

3/ VCSA always said the machine is low on RAM while the RAM utilization is only less than half (30GB) with all VM (6) on

Dell support said that this is known bug from VMware ESXi that installed on SD card is not reliable with this version 7.0 at the moment

Anyone else experience this?

Thank you very much in advance

[a_p_]

There's indeed an issue with SD cards in current ESXi versions. However, that may or may not be the reason for the reboots. ESXi usually stops with a PSOD (Purple Scree Of Diagnostics) rather than rebooting itself on errors.

1. Please check the Dell server's iDRAC logs for related entries
2. ESXi always runs on UTC. The displayed time gets adjusted (for most screens) in the GUI depending on the client's time zone.
3. What exactly is it that shows the high utilization? The ESXi host, a single VM? Please provide some details.

André

[jamesnb1]

Thank you for your information on the Timezone.

After checking with Dell tech support, since we are having 2 x non-Dell SSD, the tech support said that might be the reason why it stops and/or reset (?!)...

One other thing: I also installed vCenter Server Appliance on the same host of the VMs, version latest (7.000.20). I suspected this is the real problem. It is very sluggish in processing tasks and very often, it hung up, no response to the command. And when this happened, I basically cannot access the vCenter GUI and I had to access the Host GUI to restart the vCenter's VM

The vCenter was installed on the non-Dell SSD though...

What do you think of the non-Dell, but brand new, WD blue SSD, tested OK with other system? Is it the real issue that cause the system crash, and then restart itself?

Kind regards
James 

[a_p_]

As mentioned before, it's necessary to check the logs to find out what may be causing the reboots.

Regarding the vCSA's performance, how (which size) did you deploy the vCSA? In case you selected "Tiny" this may be the reason. Use at least the "Small" deployment, so that the vCSA has sufficient "air" (RAM) to breathe.

André

[jamesnb1]

Hello a_p_

I have removed non-Dell parts and reinstall the vCenter, config it as small deployment. It has been stabilized for 2 days in a row now...

Thank you for your instruction and I will post back if it still reboot itself...

[jamesnb1]

Hello there,

So we started fresh installation of the ESXi 7, DellEMC image latest version and also vCenter v7 latest version. Following your advice, we select "small" for vCenter deployment. This was installed on RAID 1 of the Dell-branded SSD so no third-party hardware fault involved

The server again reboot itself after a few days... We suspected it was PSOD but since it automatically rebooted itself, we did not catch what was the error.

Could you please show me where I can view/retrieve the log files which shows this kind of error?

[berndweyand]

you can create an vmkernel-zdump to analyze the psod:

https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/1006796

https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2081902

to analyze the psod : https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/1004250 or contact vmware support

[e_espinel]

Hello.
there are serious problems with version 7 installed in SD, I attach link to the forum

https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/SD-Boot-issue-Solution-in-7-x/m-p/2857849/emcs_t/...