not able to upgrade to ESXi 6.5

[yeowkm2809]

i have a dell R720 server which was running ESXi 5.1.

i tried to upgrade to ESXi 5.5 before going to ESXi 6.5.

i am using localstore, no NAS or SAN storage.

after upgrading from 5.5 to 6.5, i encountered missing datastore. my VM cannot be seen.

i re-scan the datastore and then rebooted the server, it went back to ESXi 5.5 version.

my ESXi 5.5 version is 3029944.

the ESXi 6.5 version that i am trying to upgrade to is 7388607

[SupreetK]

Can you share the below details?

1) On 5.5, is the host running on VMware standard image or vendor custom image? Run the command <esxcli software profile get> to check the same.

2) For upgrading to 6.5, are you using a vendor custom image or a standard image?

3) What is the make and model of the local SAS controller? Run the command <esxcfg-scsidevs -a> to list the storage adapters.

4) Run the command <vmkchdev -l | grep -i vmhbaX> to obtain the hardware unique IDs. Replace 'X' with the number obtained from the above output.

5) What is the firmware version of the SAS controller? You can obtain this information from iDRAC page.

Cheers,

Supreet

[EricChigoz]

Hello Yeowkem2809

please see if this helps:

ESXi Hardware Requirements

Last Updated 04/04/2018 16

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Hardware and System Resources

• Supported server platform. For a list of supported platforms, see the VMware Compatibility Guide at http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility.
• ESXi 6.5 requires a host machine with at least two CPU cores.
• ESXi 6.5 supports 64-bit x86 processors released after September 2006. This includes a broad range of multi-core processors. For a complete list of supported processors, see the VMware compatibility guide at http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility.
• ESXi 6.5 requires the NX/XD bit to be enabled for the CPU in the BIOS.
• ESXi 6.5 requires a minimum of 4 GB of physical RAM. It is recommended to provide at least 8 GB of RAM to run virtual machines in typical production environments.
• To support 64-bit virtual machines, support for hardware virtualization (Intel VT-x or AMD RVI) must be enabled on x64 CPUs.
• One or more Gigabit or faster Ethernet controllers. For a list of supported network adapter models, see the VMware Compatibility Guide at http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility.
• SCSI disk or a local, non-network, RAID LUN with unpartitioned space for the virtual machines.
• For Serial ATA (SATA), a disk connected through supported SAS controllers or supported on-board SATA controllers. SATA disks are considered remote, not local. These disks are not used as a scratch partition by default because they are seen as remote.

[yeowkm2809]

1) its from Dell

esxcli software profile get

(Updated) Dell-ESXi-5.1 Update 2-1483097-A01

   Name: (Updated) Dell-ESXi-5.1 Update 2-1483097-A01

   Vendor: GVTPVM01

   Creation Time: 2018-08-28T16:20:01

   Modification Time: 2018-08-28T16:41:47

   Stateless Ready: False

2) standard image from vmware

3) these are the storage adaptors

~ # esxcfg-scsidevs -a

vmhba0  ahci              link-n/a  sata.vmhba0                             (0:0                                                                                                      :31.2) Intel Corporation Patsburg 6 Port SATA AHCI Controller

vmhba1  megaraid_sas      link-n/a  unknown.vmhba1                          (0:3                                                                                                      :0.0) LSI / Symbios Logic MegaRAID SAS SKINNY Controller

vmhba32 ahci              link-n/a  sata.vmhba32                            (0:0                                                                                                      :31.2) Intel Corporation Patsburg 6 Port SATA AHCI Controller

vmhba33 ahci              link-n/a  sata.vmhba33                            (0:0                                                                                                      :31.2) Intel Corporation Patsburg 6 Port SATA AHCI Controller

vmhba34 ahci              link-n/a  sata.vmhba34                            (0:0                                                                                                      :31.2) Intel Corporation Patsburg 6 Port SATA AHCI Controller

vmhba35 ahci              link-n/a  sata.vmhba35                            (0:0                                                                                                      :31.2) Intel Corporation Patsburg 6 Port SATA AHCI Controller

vmhba36 ahci              link-n/a  sata.vmhba36                            (0:0                                                                                                      :31.2) Intel Corporation Patsburg 6 Port SATA AHCI Controller

4)

~ # vmkchdev -l | grep -i vmhba0

0000:00:1f.2 8086:1d02 1028:048c vmkernel vmhba0

[SupreetK]

The local disk could be using the LSI / Symbios Logic MegaRAID SAS controller. Also, the ESXi seems to be running on a Dell custom image. Can you run the below commands and share the output?

1) esxcfg-scsidevs -A

2) esxcfg-scsidevs -m

3) vmkchdev -l | grep -i vmhba1

4) vmware -vl

5) Make and model of the MegaRAID SAS controller

6) Firmware version of the MegaRAID SAS controller

5 and 6 can be obtained from the iDRAC page.

Cheers,

Supreet

[a_p_]

2) standard image from vmware

The Dell customized image contains additional drivers that may be required for the hardware, so please use this instead of the VMware image.

Support for PowerEdge R720 | Drivers & downloads | Dell US

Operating System: VMware ESXi 6.5

Category: Enterprise solutions

Btw. How are you updating the host? If via the command line, which exact command do you use?

André

[yeowkm2809]

1) # esxcfg-scsidevs -A

vmhba1      naa.6c81f660e7b035001ab475951583b0cb

vmhba1      t10.DP______BACKPLANE000000

vmhba35     mpx.vmhba35:C0:T0:L0

2)

esxcfg-scsidevs -m

naa.6c81f660e7b035001ab475951583b0cb:3                           /vmfs/devices/disks/naa.6c81f660e7b035001ab475951583b0cb:3 53319d58-14842a20-d494-f8bc123b5d4e  0  datastore1

3)

vmkchdev -l | grep -i vmhba1

0000:03:00.0 1000:0073 1028:1f51 vmkernel vmhba1

4)

vmware -vl

VMware ESXi 5.5.0 build-3029944

VMware ESXi 5.5.0 Update 3

5) PERC H310 Integrated RAID controller

[yeowkm2809]

this is the command used for the update

esxcli software profile update -d https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml -p ESXi-6.5.0-20171204001-standard -f

[SupreetK]

Cool, The controller seems to be supported. The below Dell custom image for 6.5 U2 should have the required drivers. Download the zip file, copy it to the datastore and run the profile update as shown below -

https://downloads.dell.com/FOLDER04959242M/1/VMware-VMvisor-Installer-6.5.0.update02-8294253.x86_64-...

Command to query the list of available image profiles - esxcli software sources profile list -d <location_of_the_esxi_zip_bundle_on_the_datastore>

Command to update - esxcli software profile update -p <profile_name> -d <location_of_the_esxi_zip_bundle_on_the_datastore> <-- Profile_Name is obtained from the above command.

Cheers,

Supreet

[yeowkm2809]

encounter the following error while trying to update

~ # esxcli software profile update -p DellEMC-ESXi-6.5U2-8294253-A00 -d /vmfs/volumes/datastore1/VMware-VMvisor-Installer-6.5.0.update02-8294253.x86_64-DellEMC_Custom

ized-A00.zip

[DependencyError]

VIB Broadcom_bootbank_net-tg3_3.135b.v50.1-1OEM.500.0.0.472560 requires vmkapi_2_0_0_0, but the requirement cannot be satisfied within the ImageProfile.

VIB Brocade_bootbank_net-bna_3.2.3.0-1OEM.500.0.0.472560 requires vmkapi_2_0_0_0, but the requirement cannot be satisfied within the ImageProfile.

VIB Brocade_bootbank_scsi-bfa_3.2.3.0-1OEM.500.0.0.472560 requires com.vmware.driverAPI-9.2.0.0, but the requirement cannot be satisfied within the ImageProfile.

VIB Micron_bootbank_scsi-mtip32xx-scsi_2.9.0-1OEM.500.0.0.472560 requires com.vmware.driverAPI-9.2.0.0, but the requirement cannot be satisfied within the ImageProfi                le.

VIB QLogic_bootbank_net-qlcnic_5.1.171-1OEM.500.0.0.472560 requires vmkapi_2_0_0_0, but the requirement cannot be satisfied within the ImageProfile.

VIB Micron_bootbank_scsi-mtip32xx-scsi_2.9.0-1OEM.500.0.0.472560 requires vmkapi_2_0_0_0, but the requirement cannot be satisfied within the ImageProfile.

VIB VMware_bootbank_net-qlge_2.0.0.57-1vmw.500.0.0.472560 requires com.vmware.driverAPI-9.2.0.0, but the requirement cannot be satisfied within the ImageProfile.

VIB Brocade_bootbank_net-bna_3.2.3.0-1OEM.500.0.0.472560 requires com.vmware.driverAPI-9.2.0.0, but the requirement cannot be satisfied within the ImageProfile.

VIB VMware_bootbank_net-qlge_2.0.0.57-1vmw.500.0.0.472560 requires vmkapi_2_0_0_0, but the requirement cannot be satisfied within the ImageProfile.

VIB Brocade_bootbank_scsi-bfa_3.2.3.0-1OEM.500.0.0.472560 requires vmkapi_2_0_0_0, but the requirement cannot be satisfied within the ImageProfile.

VIB LSI_bootbank_scsi-megaraid-perc9_6.900.50.00.1vmw-1OEM.500.0.0.472560 requires vmkapi_2_0_0_0, but the requirement cannot be satisfied within the ImageProfile.

VIB QLogic_bootbank_scsi-qla2xxx_934.5.29.0-1OEM.500.0.0.472560 requires com.vmware.driverAPI-9.2.0.0, but the requirement cannot be satisfied within the ImageProfil                e.

VIB QLogic_bootbank_net-qlcnic_5.1.171-1OEM.500.0.0.472560 requires com.vmware.driverAPI-9.2.0.0, but the requirement cannot be satisfied within the ImageProfile.

VIB LSI_bootbank_scsi-megaraid-perc9_6.900.50.00.1vmw-1OEM.500.0.0.472560 requires com.vmware.driverAPI-9.2.0.0, but the requirement cannot be satisfied within the I                mageProfile.

VIB QLogic_bootbank_scsi-qla2xxx_934.5.29.0-1OEM.500.0.0.472560 requires vmkapi_2_0_0_0, but the requirement cannot be satisfied within the ImageProfile.

VIB Broadcom_bootbank_net-tg3_3.135b.v50.1-1OEM.500.0.0.472560 requires com.vmware.driverAPI-9.2.0.0, but the requirement cannot be satisfied within the ImageProfile                .

Please refer to the log file for more details.

[a_p_ · Accepted solution]

The "esxcli software update" command may not be appropriate in this case. I usually use the "esxcli software install" command, if the OEM installation image contains all the required drivers. This command will do some housekeeping, and will remove old drivers, and tools. Btw. the latest ESXi 6.5 image is "VMware-VMvisor-Installer-6.5.0.update02-9298722.x86_64-DellEMC_Customized-A04.zip". You can find the current version by following the link that I've posted earlier.

Please take a look at my reply at Re: Upgrade of 5.5 to 6.5U1 hosts​ for steps to do the upgrade (it's for a cluster, but you can simply pick the steps for a single host upgrade).

André

[yeowkm2809]

managed to upgrade to ESXi 6.5 finally using the install command