Vcenter update ESXI patch failed. I am updating the ESXI using VCENTER by failed and display the following. What is the location for the log? Type vim-cmd vmsvc/getallvms to list the location of the configuration files for the virtual machines registered on an ESXi host. Record the location of the.vmx file (configuration file) for the virtual machine you are troubleshooting. For example: /vmfs/volumes/46b2f3eb-ced4c7d8-c1d2-33/vm1/vm1.vmx.
As you upgrade your vSphere hosts we generally recommend that you also upgrade VMware Tools in your virtual machines. This can get tricky to manage, especially if you have hosts at different versions of ESXi. To help mitigate this we allow you to store the files on a centralised repository and point the hosts to the relevant location: a walkthrough of this feature is located here.
The updateProductLockerPolicy tool which was introduced in vSphere 6.5 Update 1 has been deprecated in vSphere 6.7 Update 1. It has been replaced by a new vSphere API named updateProductLockerLocation, which allows this setting to be applied without requiring that the hosts be placed into maintenance mode or rebooted. This blog post explains how to use this API in order to setup a centralised repository for VMware Tools.
Why use a central repository for VMware Tools?
But first: I always like to start with the why. The latest build of VMware Tools is always available from https://www.vmware.com/go/tools. VMware Tools releases have been decoupled from vSphere release since version 10.0 – you can now standardise on a single release of VMware Tools by configuring a centralised repository. This also allows you to deploy the image of ESXi without VMware Tools integrated. Doing this saves disk space on ESXi hosts and speeds the deployment process.
How to configure the central repository
So that’s the why: now onto the how. First: create a new location to hold the VMware Tools images – in this example I’m creating a new directory on my vSAN Datastore at /vmfs/volumes/vsanDatastore/vmtools.
Next, download the latest VMware Tools bundle from https://www.vmware.com/go/tools and extract it into the newly provisioned location – we need both the “vmtools” and “floppies” directories from the bundle. Make a note of the path that you use to access this location, you’ll need this later!
Once you have extracted the VMware Tools files to the folder in question you need to update the ProductLocker pointer for each host: at present this is done through the Managed Object Browser on your vCenter Server Appliance, which is accessed at https://VCSA_FQDN/mob – be sure to login! When logged in you can browse the MOB by clicking the hyperlinks – follow the path Content > rootFolder > childEntity > hostFolder > host and click through to the host that you wish to update.
At the host level there are 2 API calls possible.
As you might expect, QueryProductLockerLocation shows the current location of the ProductLocker on the host.
This is a directory on a VMFS volume which happens to be local to the host in question. Update this to point it to the new, shared location which you noted earlier. To do this we invoke the UpdateProductLockerLocation_Task method, specifying the path to the new location.
Call the QueryProductLockerLocation method in order to confirm that the change completed successfully.
The output confirms that the ProductLocker location has successfully moved to the new directory on the vSAN datastore. All hosts configured in this manner point to the same installers for guests when upgrading VMware Tools. When you need to push out a new version of VMware Tools you change the files in only one location.
All VMware hosts run a service for logging system information. This service, vmsyslogd, logs messages from the VMkernel and other system components for auditing and diagnostic purposes. By default, the logs are directed to a local scratch location or ramdisk. The scratch space is created automatically during ESXi installation in the form of a 4 GB Fat16 local scratch partition. If storage space is unavailable, the host will store data on a ramdisk, which is not persistent across reboots. That being the case, many admins choose to send these logs to a persistent datastore or remote logging server for retention.
NOTE: If the logs are indeed stored on a local scratch, vCenter will display an alert stating – System logs on host are stored on non-persistent storage.
Configuring the log location can be done in a variety of ways. In this post, we will focus on vSphere Web Client and ESXi Shell.
Manually Configure ESXi Syslog – vSphere Web Client
For convenience sake, the Web Client is popular for setting the log location. In the Web Client, the Syslog.global.logdir key controls the syslog location. By default, the location is set to []/scratch/log which references that local scratch location created during installation or ramdisk.
To change the syslog location, navigate to Advanced System Settings under the host Configuration tab. Edit the Syslog.global.logdir value to specify the new log path. Format the value as [datastore]/logdir. Example: [DevDS]/LOGS/Dev
Similarly, the Syslog.global.LogHost key indicates the remote server where the syslog messages are forwarded. A blank field indicates that logs are not being forwarded. To specify a remote logging host, enter a value in the format of protocol://hostname:port. Example: tcp://hostname:514
When complete, click OK. The changes will take effect immediately.
NOTE – If you are utilizing the vSphere 6.5 Web Client, you may receive an error when attempting to save the settings. The message will state ‘There are errors in some of the advanced settings values. Resolve them to continue.’
If that is the case, it is quite possible the Power.PerfBias value is set to 4294967294 which is out of range for that key. VMware is aware of this issue affecting ESXi 6.5. The resolution is to upgrade to VMware ESXi 6.5 Update 1.
If you are not ready to upgrade to ESXi 6.5 U1 or prefer using the command line utility, local and remote logging can also be configured using esxcli.
Manually Configure ESXi Syslog – ESXCLI
To start, open an ESXi Shell session via SSH or vCLI on the pertinent host. Now, retrieve the current syslog configuration options using esxcli system syslog commands.
esxcli system syslog config get
Next, configure the new log directory and/or remote log server with the esxcli system syslog config set command. Specify, the vmfs directory path for the log directory with –logdir option and/or the remote log server with the –loghost option.
Esxi Patch Stage Location Guide
esxcli system syslog config set –logdir=/vmfs/directory/path –loghost=’tcp://hostname:514’
Load the configuration changes with the esxcli system syslog reload command. The logs will immediately begin populating the specified location.
Run the esxcli system syslog config get command again to verify the changes are in place.
Lastly, check the Advanced System Settings keys back in the Web Client to see the reflected changes.
Esxi Patch Stage Location Fallout 4
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