ESX 3.02 Issues

[VMdawg]

Ok so I decided to install ESX 3.02 on a IBM x3850 to get the ball rolling on testing and such...I moved a couple non-critical VM's on to it and BLAM! Purple debug screen. "VMWARE ESX SERVER \[RELEASEBUILD-52542]

EXCEPTION TYPE IN WORLD 1086:VMWARE-VMX 0X849821

Anybody else seen this?

[mreferre]

I have installed it on a 3850 (boot from SAN) but I haven't loaded yet any vm.....

Can you replicate the problem or it has just happened once ?

Massimo.

[VMdawg]

I have been able to replicate it 3 times...appears to be an issue vmotioning from an x3850 to an x3950...never had any problems doing this on ESX3.01...

[mreferre]

This is odd. These systems are supposed to use fully vmotion compatible cpu's ....

I suggest you open a ticket immediately for further investigation ... Being able to replicate it ... you are 90% done in terms of problem determination ..... the worst are those random that happens "once in a while" ....

Massimo.

[VMdawg]

Ok so it seems to have been a combination of a few issues. First, I had to boot to BIOS on my x3850 and x3950's and change the PCI-x mode to "mode1" on all PCI-x slots. Got this information from IBM-Known Issues. The other problem isn't with vmotioning between 38 & 3950's, but rather vmotioning between ESX3.01 & ESX3.02...When you dead-motion the VM's (you have to upgrade the virtual tools) the purple screen of death isn't a problem. Since figuring this out, I have moved a bunch of stuff and everything seems to be working fine.

[mreferre]

I didn't know about this mode1 problem ....

So, to recap, are you saying that moving a vm from a 3.0.1 host to a 3.0.2 host causes an ESX purple screen on the receiving host (3.0.2), and the problem was in the fact that the vm('s) being moved over did not have updated VMTools (3.0.2 level?) ? Once you have upgraded the vmtools in the vm('s) you could move them back and forth without any issue ?

Massimo.

[VMdawg]

I think the PSOD was because of my PCI-X mode2 speed issue (on HBA's and NIC's). Once I changed the PCI-X slots to mode1 the PSOD went away. Since then I have been able to vmotion VM's from 3.01 to 3.02 hosts (granted it gives you the CPU change/requirments message). Once they are vmotioned you definitely have to upgrade tools and boot.

[VMdawg]

I wish I could get the points since I answered it myself.]:)