Category: VMware

Unable to backup on version 7u2a, checking the logs from /var/log/vmware/applmgmt/backup.log is:

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[VTSDBBackup:PID-117743] [VTSDB::BackupVTSDB:VTSDB.py:155] INFO: Starting the VTSDB backup
[VTSDBBackup:PID-117743] [VTSDB::get_init_files:VTSDB.py:344] INFO: Download Postgres initialize files: /storage/vtsdb/vtsdbdata/health_status_worker.conf,/storage/vtsdb/vtsdbdata/postgresql.conf,/storage/vtsdb/vtsdbdata/postgresql.auto.conf,/storage/vtsdb/vtsdbdata/postgresql.conf.auto,/storage/vtsdb/vtsdbdata/pg_hba.conf,/storage/vtsdb/vtsdbdata/current_logfiles,/storage/vtsdb/vtsdbdata/pg_ident.conf
[VTSDB::_backup_postgres_init_files:VTSDB.py:366] INFO: Download Postgres initialize files: storage/vtsdb/vtsdbdata/health_status_worker.conf,storage/vtsdb/vtsdbdata/postgresql.conf,storage/vtsdb/vtsdbdata/postgresql.auto.conf,storage/vtsdb/vtsdbdata/postgresql.conf.auto,storage/vtsdb/vtsdbdata/pg_hba.conf,storage/vtsdb/vtsdbdata/current_logfiles,storage/vtsdb/vtsdbdata/pg_ident.conf
[backupRestoreDispatch::dispatchFiles:backupRestoreDispatch.py:291] INFO: tarCmd = [‘/usr/bin/tar’, ‘-cz’, ‘-C’, ‘/’, ‘–ignore-failed-read’, ‘–no-recursion’, ‘–warning’, ‘no-file-ignored’, ‘storage/vtsdb/vtsdbdata/health_status_worker.conf’, ‘storage/vtsdb/vtsdbdata/postgresql.conf’, ‘storage/vtsdb/vtsdbdata/postgresql.auto.conf’, ‘storage/vtsdb/vtsdbdata/postgresql.conf.auto’, ‘storage/vtsdb/vtsdbdata/pg_hba.conf’, ‘storage/vtsdb/vtsdbdata/current_logfiles’, ‘storage/vtsdb/vtsdbdata/pg_ident.conf’]
[VCDB::BackupVCDB:VCDB.py:2057] ERROR: Encounter error during backup VCDB.
Traceback (most recent call last):
File “/usr/lib/applmgmt/backup_restore/py/vmware/appliance/backup_restore/components/VCDB.py”, line 1936, in BackupVCDB
raise Exception(‘Full backup not allowed during VM snapshot’)
Exception: Full backup not allowed during VM snapshot
2022-12-14T09:44:23.79 [20221214-094419-20395099] [VCDBBackup:PID-117740] [Proc::UpdateExceptionStatus:Proc.py:383] ERROR: Full backup not allowed during VM snapshot

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This is generally caused by an interruption to the backup, or a restore from backup, leaving a flag file in place.

Remove or rename /etc/vmware/backupMarker.txt and re-run the backup.

Since the upgrade to version ESXi 6.7 U1 and newer, it’s impossible to enable Hardware-Assisted Virtualization with PCI Passthrough Devices by GUI and it’s not supported by VMware, but it’s possible to enable by editing the VMX file.

Follow the procedure:

1- Shutdown the VM

2- Add this configuration

• vhv.allowPassthru=”TRUE”
• vhv.enable=”TRUE”

3- Power On the VM

 

 

Issues with LifeCycle Manager where we could not download updates from VMware Depot and we got the error below. Communication with VMware is done by proxy.

 

The workaround is following:

1. Edit /etc/sysconfig/proxy via vi /etc/sysconfig/proxy
2. Modify HTTPS_PROXY to match HTTP_PROXY
3. Reboot the appliance so that all services pick up the new settings

If you have recently upgraded to the version 7, you probably noticed twice the amount of HBA ports in your ESXi.

For EMULEX HBA:

esxcli system module parameters set -m lpfc -p lpfc_enable_fc4_type=1

Reboot the host.

For QLOGIC HBA;

esxcfg-module -s ‘ql2xnvmesupport=0’ qlnativefc

Reboot the host.

Follow this procedure.

1 – Download VMware Tools Offline VIB Bundle https://customerconnect.vmware.com/en/downloads/details?downloadGroup=VMTOOLS1200&productId=1259&rPId=85322

2 – Upload the file to a datastore.

Login to Vmware Vsphere web client, Select Esxi server or datastore, on the Configure tab / Manage tab for ESXi, Select Storage/ Datastores, right-click datastore, where you want to upload files, click Browse Files from the context menu.

3- Enable SSH on ESXi Host

4- Connect by ssh

5- Locate the file cd /vmfs/volumes and cd the datastore you upload the file and type the ls to locate the file.

6- Verify the profiles available to install change the “/vmfs/volumes/DatastoreUUID/” for the location of file and type

7 – esxcli software vib install -d “/vmfs/volumes/DatastoreUUID/VMware-Tools-12.0.0-core-offline-depot-ESXi-all-19345655.zip”

After this update the default will be VMtools 12.

 

To be able to access the vCenter with WinSCP it is necessary to change the default shell to Bash

1. Initiate an SSH connection to the vCenter Server Appliance.
2. Provide the root user user name and password when prompted.
3. Run the following command to enable the Bash shell:shell.set –enable True
4. Run the following command to access the Bash shell:shell
5. In the Bash shell, run the following command to change the default shell to Bash:chsh -s “/bin/bash” root
6. Use WinSCP to upload the certificate files to the vCenter Server Appliance.
7. Return to the Appliance Shell by running the following command:chsh -s /bin/appliancesh root 

    

   For more information:
   https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2107727

Partition /core becomes full due to too many files, following the commands you needed to delete those files.

cd /storage/core/
rm core.in\:imfile.*

You can use this command to check free space
df -h

For more information:
https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/81327

To check if you need run the KB https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/87274

Open a SSH and run the command

openssl dgst -verify /var/vmware/applmgmt/fileintegrity/pub.key -signature /var/vmware/applmgmt/fileintegrity/fileintegrity_config.sig /etc/vmware/appliance/fileintegrity_config.json

If the result is Verification Failure, Follow the steps:

• Login to VCSA through ssh using putty.
• Download the script generate_signature.py from the attachment section to in the article.
• Upload the script to the VCSA ” root directory” using WINSCP

Note: If you faced an error while trying to login to VCSA through WINSCP , please run the below command on VCSA (SSH):
# chsh -s /bin/bash root

• Run the script using the command:

# python generate_signature.py

• Run the command:

# openssl dgst -verify /var/vmware/applmgmt/fileintegrity/pub.key -signature /var/vmware/applmgmt/fileintegrity/fileintegrity_config.sig /etc/vmware/appliance/fileintegrity_config.json

This should return a “Verified OK” response.

• Run the following commands:

service-control –stop applmgmt
rm -rf /storage/core/software-update/*
rm -rf /storage/db/patching.db
mv /storage/core/software-packages/staged-configuration.json /storage/core
mv /etc/applmgmt/appliance/software_update_state.conf /storage/core
service-control –start applmgmt

• Retry the update.

 

Unable to patch ESXi host. keep getting the following error:
Cannot download VIB: ”. This might be because of network issues or the specified VIB does NOT exist or does NOT have a proper ‘read’ privilege set. Please make sure the specified VIB exists and is accessible from vCenter

This issue resolves by resetting vum database and retry the updates. I would advise you to take a snapshot of the vCSA before going through this procedure.

The process to reset the database is:

Connect to vCSA via SSH

Run the shell command to switch to the BASH Shell:

shell

Stop the VMware Update Manager Service:

service-control –stop vmware-updatemgr

Run the following command to reset the VMware Update Manager Database:

/usr/lib/vmware-updatemgr/bin/updatemgr-utility.py reset-db

Run the following Command to delete the contents of the VMware Update Manager Patch Store:

rm -rf /storage/updatemgr/patch-store/*

Start the VMware Update Manager Service:

service-control –start vmware-updatemgr

Note: You may need to log out and log back into any instances of the vSphere Web Client.

Note: For vSAN environments this will also remove the vSAN default baselines. These baselines are recreated automatically when there is a configuration change to vSAN such as add/remove a host/disk or an update to the HCL DB. You can still safely update a vSAN cluster without the vSAN default baselines.

After the succesfull reset of the database, you should be able to scan, and apply critical and non-critical patches

When we try to add an ESXi Host to vCenter we get the following error “A general system error occurred: Unable to push CA certificates and CRLs to host XXXXXXX”

Modify the advanced configuration “Config.HostAgent.ssl.keyStore.allowSelfSigned” introduced in ESXi 6.7 Update 3 to ignore the Self Signed Certificates. 

Connect to the ESXi using Host Client
Select Manage Tab
Select Advanced Settings
Locate the option “Config.HostAgent.ssl.keyStore.allowSelfSigned”
Edit the value from false to true

Reboot the ESXi host.
Retry adding the ESXi host to vCenter Server or certificate renew operation