VMware

The Mysterious Case of the Vanishing Datastore

Update: HP ProLiant Smart Array Controller Driver VIB Installation Issues with VMware ESXi 5.0 Updates

In this article, I will discuss an issue that recently came up during the installation of a new HP ProLiant BL460c G8 blade at a customer site. The server was running VMware ESXi 5.0, and after installing two brand-new blades with HP Smart Array P220i controllers, I decided to upgrade from the previous version (VMware-ESXi-5.0.0-Update1-623860-HP-5.20.43.iso) to the latest build offered by VMware (821926). While this process is typically easy using VMware Update Manager, I encountered a few unexpected issues that required some additional troubleshooting and testing.

Issue Overview:

During the update process, I discovered that the HP Bootbank VIB for local SCSI controllers was removed by the VMware update. This resulted in the ESXi hosts being unable to read the local datastore from the HP Smart Array P220i Controller. To rectify this issue, I downloaded the scsi-hpsa-5.0.0-28OEM.500.0.472560.x86_64.vib file from hp.com and installed it on the host.

Troubleshooting and Resolution:

After installing the update, I then installed the HP ProLiant Smart Array Controller Driver using the following command:

~ # esxcli software vib install -v file:/tmp/scsi-hpsa-5.0.0-28OEM.500.0.472560.x86_64.vib

The installation resulted in the following output:

Installation Result:

Message: The update completed successfully, but the system needs to be rebooted for the changes to take effect.

Reboot Required: true

Installed VIBs: Hewlett-Packard_bootbank_scsi-hpsa_5.0.0-28OEM.500.0.472560

Removed VIBs: VMware_bootbank_scsi-hpsa_5.0.0-17vmw.500.0.469512

Skipped VIBs:

After rebooting, the host was upgraded to the correct build and the local datastore was available as well.

Lessons Learned:

While updating your hosts, it is crucial to be careful and ensure you have a real retreat option ready if you need to quickly roll back to the previous build. The luxury of having the time and possibility to really troubleshoot the issue, might not be available to you if you are upgrading production systems. Test your updates, every time.