vSphere 5.5u1 - For us, worst release yet (in terms of installs / upgrades)

I upgraded a bunch of hosts from 5.5 to 5.5u1 using VUM. It is just a lab so hit the go button.

Two hosts done, two hosts won't come up. Unrecoverable ...

Scratched that idea so waited until I have the time to rebuild ..

Today I rebuilt the lot. Initially it went well, two hosts worked, created cluster etc. - all based on ISCSI using the software initiator.

Then again two other hosts, nothing. As soon as you enable the iSCSI initiator the host disconnects and it is rendered useless.

You cannot recover the host but reinstall. Then I tried to reinstall the two hosts which did work - same thing.

So at the moment I cannot even use 5.5.u1 - Anyone seen similar issues ?

What baffles me is the fact that IF there a big problems, it always seems to be iSCSI related. There were massive issues with 3.5, 4.1, now 5.5u1 .. Sure, it can just be a symptom rather than the cause, but it is odd.

* goes back to 5.5 -u1 *

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Comments

srabiee

Wow that's scary. Good thing it was only a test environment.

jibbajabba

I noticed that each host saw an additional storage device with 5.5u1 which doesn't exist, which might be why the whole thing goes boom. Apparently each host has Terradim devices - which makes no sense ...

Either way, 5.5 GA works .. sticking with that one then ..

TheProf

Every time I have an issue with a new release of vSphere or a major update, it's always an issue with the drivers. To get 5.5 working I had to either slip stream the drivers or do an update with VUM. Would not work if I just install a fresh instance of 5.5.

Essendon

Check this out > https://communities.vmware.com/thread/473266

Interesting issue and scary for a prod environment! Like TheProf said, it's usually the drivers. We had an issues with an update once and turned out it was the Emulex drivers that also needed an update.

kj0

My issues with u1 started yesterday when I set up VCSA as a test at work and SSO would not work. I went through the set up wizard and went to connect with the local admin, "No you can't log in, SSL Cert is WRONG!" so I tried stopping the services to reset the SSO password and services would not stop, I redeployed the OVA and got the same issue, I eventually restarted, stopped the services and reset the password.

Not what I had planned on.

jibbajabba

Essendon wrote: »

Check this out > https://communities.vmware.com/thread/473266

Interesting issue and scary for a prod environment!

Indeed ... Well I indeed used the driver rollup iso .. What did work for me, rather than updating using the ISO (VUM or direct) or reinstalling the host (which doesn't work either), I was able to patch using hostfix baseline on VUM (coming from 5.5. GA) - every damn major version has ISCSI issues .. It really seems you can only go for 5.5 once 6 is out or something

blargoe

VMware really needs to get their stuff together when it comes to QA testing their new releases. Major issues seem to be more of the norm lately.

I am getting ready to test upgrades from 5.1 to 5.5, and it looks like I will be sticking with 5.5 GA.

SimonD.

Which is funny because we were holding off upgrading to 5.5 until U1 was released, obviously this needs looking in to further before we take the plunge.

jibbajabba

blargoe wrote: »

VMware really needs to get their stuff together when it comes to QA testing their new releases..

Like I always say, since 3.5 every major release seems to have some sort of ISCSI issue, some major, some just annoying ...

Asif Dasl

jibbajabba wrote: »

Indeed ... Well I indeed used the driver rollup iso .. What did work for me, rather than updating using the ISO (VUM or direct) or reinstalling the host (which doesn't work either), I was able to patch using hostfix baseline on VUM (coming from 5.5. GA) - every damn major version has ISCSI issues .. It really seems you can only go for 5.5 once 6 is out or something

I just noticed the read more for "ESXi 5.5 Update 1 Driver Rollup" says

ESXi 5.5 Update 1 ISO with updated drivers (Includes VMware Tools). Boot your server with this ESXi Driver Rollup image in order to install ESXi with updated drivers. (ESXi requires 64-bit capable servers) NOTE: This image should not be used for ESXi upgrades.

Whereas the "ESXi 5.5 Update 1 ISO image" is for installs/upgrades... is this the first time they have done this? I gather nothing worked for you but I was able to upgrade both my physical and both my nested hosts using VUM with no problems...

jibbajabba

As noted though. The issue is also on fresh installs. You can freshly install ESXi and immediately after first boot install the iscsi initiator and it trashes hosts. Even on systems on the HCL.

kj0

Can confirm this is an issue, however, it only occurs for me when I try to create a Datastore on a LUN. It gets to almost the end and then fails. Leave 10Mb not used and then you can't see the other part it's created because it's stuck.

Apparently it was an issue back in 4.1 as well

jibbajabba

VMware KB: Hostd becomes unresponsive after enabling software ISCSI when installed from the ESXi 5.5 Update 1 Driver Rollup ISO

tomtom1

I must say, I've upgraded a few environments (early adopters) and my lab with no issues whatsoever!