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number1vspheref
Contributor
Contributor

Can't query or patch ESXi 4 with vihostupdate.pl from vSphere CLI

Hi,

I am having problems patching (or even querying the patch level) on an ESXi host (build 208167). When I run

C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware vSphere CLI\bin>vihostupdate.pl --server 192.168.1.7 --query

and enter the correct username and password, it just hangs...

If I enter an incorrect password, I get an authentication error so some level of communication with the ESXi host is occurring. Running the same query on an ESX (not ESXi) box in the cluster returns the relevant information without any problems. Running the 'Host Update Utility' also hangs at the 'Scanning' stage . So, unless I use update manager, what are my options? I have a VMFS file system on the same HD as my ESXi install so I don't want to do a fresh ESXi install... Has anybody come across something like this before?

Thanks,

number1vspherefan.

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8 Replies
vmako
Contributor
Contributor

Hi number1vspherefan,

I too am having this issue on two hosts both running ESXi 4.0.0 219382.

I can't use the host update utility or VUM either.

Did you manage to fix the problem you were having?

Thank you.

Dan.

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number1vspheref
Contributor
Contributor

Hi Dan,

Wasn't able to fix it... eventually had to re-install a later release of ESXi which I was able to patch fine.

number1vspherefan.

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Atmos4
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Hmm, I'm having the same problem after upgrading from 4.0.1 to 4.1. In 4.0.1 it worked fine, after upgrade just hangs after password prompt on all hosts.

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ThejasKV
Contributor
Contributor

Are you still facing this issue ? Can you please upload the esxupdate.log and hostd.log files of the ESX host.

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Atmos4
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I got it working eventually. To diagnose I enabled ssh on one ESXi server and ran esxupdate query, which also hang, but after some time it showed an error that the update database was still locked by another esxupdate process. So I waited some time and tried again and then it worked, although sometimes a bit flaky. Eg. I did a vihostupdate scan, followed by install, install complained needing maintenance mode, so I send server to maintenance, retried install, hung again. Rebooted server, retried and it worked.

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Ecook
Contributor
Contributor

Im having the same problem but none of these fixes mentioned seemed to work. I can query just fine, but trying to do the install seems to just hang after password is typed in. After checking the vsphere client for what is going on, all I see is that it completed checking host, but only once. Any ideas or advice?

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bulletprooffool
Champion
Champion

Here is a walkthrough - let me know how it goes:

http://www.get-virtual.info/2011/03/24/436/

One day I will virtualise myself . . .
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Ecook
Contributor
Contributor

I figured it out.

I am on a WAN and was using a ipsec tunnel to try and do the update from a different subnet. Apparantly, ESXi doesn't like that. Word of advice: Be on the same subnet as the ESXI host if you are going to do the update. LoL! Sorry, brainfart moment.

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