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salmanhassan172
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vCenter Server Appliance is getting failed to update from version 6.0 update 1 to update 3B

vCenter  Server Appliance  were getting failed to update from  v6.0 update 1 to v6.0 update 3B. The error occurred after trying to stage files with the message: 'running test transaction, installation process failed'.

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salmanhassan172
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After after referring many post and articles related to particular error, I found 3 solutions which can be executed one after another depending on the situation. I recommend to ensure proper backups of VCSA.

Below are the options which can help to fix this issue.

1. Perform the cleanup task on file system. Remove old compressed log from the file system.

2. Increase the size of the LVM mount point.

3. Increase the size non LVM mount point (eg:/dev/sda3).

You can refer below details of mount points of vCenter Server Appliance are deployed using a Tiny specification. Your environment may differ depending on the sizing used.

    

Disk  VMDK) 

Default Size 
(Tiny VCSA)

Mount Point

Purpose

VMDK1

12GB

/ (10GB)
/boot (132MB)
SWAP (1GB)

Boot directory where the kernel images and boot load configurations are stored

VMDK2

1.3GB

/tmp

Temporary directory used to store temporary files generated or used by services from vCenter Server

VMDK3

25GB

SWAP

Swap directory used when the system is out of memory to swap to disk

VMDK4

25GB

/storage/core

Core directory where core dumps from VPXD process from the vCenter Server are stored

VMDK5

10GB

/storage/log

Log directory where vCenter Server stores all logs for the environment

VMDK6

10GB

/storage/db

VMware Postgres database storage location

VMDK7

5GB

/storage/dblog

VMware Postgres database logging location

VMDK8

10GB

/storage/seat

Stats, Events, Alarms and Tasks (SEAT) directory for VMware Postgres

VMDK9

1GB

/storage/netdump

VMware Netdump collector repository that stores ESXi dumps

VMDK10

10GB

/storage/autodeploy

VMware Auto Deploy repository that stores the thinpackages used for stateless booting of ESXi hosts

VMDK11

5GB

/storage/invsvc

VMware Inventory Service directory where the xDB, Inventory Service bootstrap configuration file, and tomcat configuration files reside



 

Method to clear space

1. Performed Clean up task on both the partitions by performing following commands.

Log in to the vCenter Server Appliance or PSC console as root user.

Run this command to enable access the Bash shell:

shell.set --enabled true

Type shell and press Enter.

Then run command df -h to check the current usage of / file system that is /dev/sda3.

Then If It's occupied more then 80% then check where it consume more to run the below cmd.

du -chx --max-depth=1 / (It will find / check all the space consumable file/dir)

Idendity the folder which consumes more space .

enter to folder via cd foldername

du -sh * (It will search all the file/dir current space)

then delete all unnecessary files (example old logs files)

Method to increase the LVM file system

1. Log in to the vCenter Server Appliance using SSH and root credentials.

2.Run this command to enable the Bash shell:

shell.set --enabled true

3.Type shell and press Enter.

4.Use this command to verify which disk is experiencing disk space issues:

df -h

5. Using the vSphere Client or vSphere Web Client, locate the vCenter Server Appliance virtual machine and increase the disk space on the affected virtual disk.

6. After the virtual disk is increased, return to the SSH session and run this command to automatically expand any logical volumes for which the physical volumes are increased:

vpxd_servicecfg storage lvm autogrow

When the grow operation is successful, you see output similar to:

VC_CFG_RESULT=0

7.Run this command to confirm that the virtual disk has been successfully grown:

df -h

Method to increase the boot/non-LVM mount points.

1. Once you are done with clean up task on root mount point (ie:/dev/sda3) and unable to create sufficient space then login to vcenter and increase the disk size from web client of the root disk. Reboot your VCSA in order to get the newly expanded disk to show as expanded

2. Once VCSA is up run this command to enable the Bash shell:

shell.set --enabled true

3.Type shell and press Enter.

4. Run  fdisk –l /dev/sda to verify the new size of the disk. Now it will show the new size of the disk

pastedImage_0.jpg

5. In our scenario /dev/sda3 partition was impacted hence we will be working on this partition. Partition may vary as per the situation so chose the partition accordingly.

6. We will use fdisk commands and options to get the new space added in the mount point.

7. First up, delete partition number 3 using the d option.

7.1 fdisk /dev/sda

7.2 d (for delete)

7.3 3 (for partition 3)

Recreate the same partition with a new last sector using all defaults value for /dev/sda3

This time selecting the n option, p for partition, 3 for our partition number and accepting all of the defaults

7.4 n (for new)

7.5 p (for partition)

7.6 3 (for partition number 3)

After accepting all the defaults we need to make this partition bootable – again done inside of fdisk by using ‘a’ and then ‘3’ for our partition number

7.7 a (to toggle bootable flag)

7.8 3 (for partition number 3)

pastedImage_1.png

8. Perform a reboot in order for these newly created partition tables to take affect and extend the mount point using below command

resize2fs /dev/sda3

Verify the size using df –h.

     pastedImage_3.png

View solution in original post

1 Reply
salmanhassan172
Contributor
Contributor
Jump to solution

After after referring many post and articles related to particular error, I found 3 solutions which can be executed one after another depending on the situation. I recommend to ensure proper backups of VCSA.

Below are the options which can help to fix this issue.

1. Perform the cleanup task on file system. Remove old compressed log from the file system.

2. Increase the size of the LVM mount point.

3. Increase the size non LVM mount point (eg:/dev/sda3).

You can refer below details of mount points of vCenter Server Appliance are deployed using a Tiny specification. Your environment may differ depending on the sizing used.

    

Disk  VMDK) 

Default Size 
(Tiny VCSA)

Mount Point

Purpose

VMDK1

12GB

/ (10GB)
/boot (132MB)
SWAP (1GB)

Boot directory where the kernel images and boot load configurations are stored

VMDK2

1.3GB

/tmp

Temporary directory used to store temporary files generated or used by services from vCenter Server

VMDK3

25GB

SWAP

Swap directory used when the system is out of memory to swap to disk

VMDK4

25GB

/storage/core

Core directory where core dumps from VPXD process from the vCenter Server are stored

VMDK5

10GB

/storage/log

Log directory where vCenter Server stores all logs for the environment

VMDK6

10GB

/storage/db

VMware Postgres database storage location

VMDK7

5GB

/storage/dblog

VMware Postgres database logging location

VMDK8

10GB

/storage/seat

Stats, Events, Alarms and Tasks (SEAT) directory for VMware Postgres

VMDK9

1GB

/storage/netdump

VMware Netdump collector repository that stores ESXi dumps

VMDK10

10GB

/storage/autodeploy

VMware Auto Deploy repository that stores the thinpackages used for stateless booting of ESXi hosts

VMDK11

5GB

/storage/invsvc

VMware Inventory Service directory where the xDB, Inventory Service bootstrap configuration file, and tomcat configuration files reside



 

Method to clear space

1. Performed Clean up task on both the partitions by performing following commands.

Log in to the vCenter Server Appliance or PSC console as root user.

Run this command to enable access the Bash shell:

shell.set --enabled true

Type shell and press Enter.

Then run command df -h to check the current usage of / file system that is /dev/sda3.

Then If It's occupied more then 80% then check where it consume more to run the below cmd.

du -chx --max-depth=1 / (It will find / check all the space consumable file/dir)

Idendity the folder which consumes more space .

enter to folder via cd foldername

du -sh * (It will search all the file/dir current space)

then delete all unnecessary files (example old logs files)

Method to increase the LVM file system

1. Log in to the vCenter Server Appliance using SSH and root credentials.

2.Run this command to enable the Bash shell:

shell.set --enabled true

3.Type shell and press Enter.

4.Use this command to verify which disk is experiencing disk space issues:

df -h

5. Using the vSphere Client or vSphere Web Client, locate the vCenter Server Appliance virtual machine and increase the disk space on the affected virtual disk.

6. After the virtual disk is increased, return to the SSH session and run this command to automatically expand any logical volumes for which the physical volumes are increased:

vpxd_servicecfg storage lvm autogrow

When the grow operation is successful, you see output similar to:

VC_CFG_RESULT=0

7.Run this command to confirm that the virtual disk has been successfully grown:

df -h

Method to increase the boot/non-LVM mount points.

1. Once you are done with clean up task on root mount point (ie:/dev/sda3) and unable to create sufficient space then login to vcenter and increase the disk size from web client of the root disk. Reboot your VCSA in order to get the newly expanded disk to show as expanded

2. Once VCSA is up run this command to enable the Bash shell:

shell.set --enabled true

3.Type shell and press Enter.

4. Run  fdisk –l /dev/sda to verify the new size of the disk. Now it will show the new size of the disk

pastedImage_0.jpg

5. In our scenario /dev/sda3 partition was impacted hence we will be working on this partition. Partition may vary as per the situation so chose the partition accordingly.

6. We will use fdisk commands and options to get the new space added in the mount point.

7. First up, delete partition number 3 using the d option.

7.1 fdisk /dev/sda

7.2 d (for delete)

7.3 3 (for partition 3)

Recreate the same partition with a new last sector using all defaults value for /dev/sda3

This time selecting the n option, p for partition, 3 for our partition number and accepting all of the defaults

7.4 n (for new)

7.5 p (for partition)

7.6 3 (for partition number 3)

After accepting all the defaults we need to make this partition bootable – again done inside of fdisk by using ‘a’ and then ‘3’ for our partition number

7.7 a (to toggle bootable flag)

7.8 3 (for partition number 3)

pastedImage_1.png

8. Perform a reboot in order for these newly created partition tables to take affect and extend the mount point using below command

resize2fs /dev/sda3

Verify the size using df –h.

     pastedImage_3.png