ESXi notes

[GotNoTime 219]

If you're running the commands from the console or SSH then you don't need to specify the server. If you're using vSphere CLI remotely then you will need to add "--server [ADDRESS OF ESXI HOST]"

 

Enable maintenance mode

You may also do this using the vSphere client or the vSphere web client.

 

Make sure to shutdown or vMotion all of your running VMs as maintenance mode disables all VM operations.

esxcli system maintenanceMode set --enable true

Disable maintenance mode

You may also do this using the vSphere client or the vSphere web client.

 

esxcli system maintenanceMode set --enable false

Restart host using vSphere CLI

You may also do this using the vSphere client or the vSphere web client.

 

esxcli system shutdown reboot -r "Reason for restart"

How to apply ESXi patches

Download the patch from the ESXi patch portal and upload it to your datastore.

Enter maintenance mode and run the following command to apply the patch. Once the patch has completed, you will most probably need to restart the host. Leave maintenance mode once you're done.

 

esxcli software vib update --depot=/vmfs/volumes/[NAME OF DATASTORE]/[UPDATE FILENAME]

How to update the HP tools and modules

Enter maintenance mode and run the following command to apply the patch. Once the patch has completed, you will most probably need to restart the host. Leave maintenance mode once you're done.

ESXi 6.0

esxcli software vib update --depot=http://vibsdepot.hp.com/hpq/hpq-index-ecli-600.xml

ESXi 5.5

esxcli software vib update --depot=http://vibsdepot.hp.com/hpq/hpq-index-ecli-550.xml

ESXi 5.1

esxcli software vib update --depot=http://vibsdepot.hp.com/hpq/hpq-index-ecli-510.xml

ESXi 5.0

esxcli software vib update --depot=http://vibsdepot.hp.com/hpq/hpq-index-ecli-500.xml

How to downgrade the hpvsa driver in 5.5 and 6.0

The b120i driver from 5.5.0-90.0 to 5.5.0.98-1 has performance issues and requires a downgrade to 5.5.0-88.0. Newer versions may still be affected so check the forum or this thread for more details.

Download scsi-hpvsa-5.5.0-88OEM.550.0.0.1331820.x86_64.vib from the HP VIB depot and upload it to your datastore. It is the same driver for 5.5 and 6.0.

Enter maintenance mode and run the following command. You'll need to reboot after changing the driver and then leave maintenance mode. Do NOT restart without reinstalling the driver after removing it.

 

esxcli software vib remove -n Hewlett-Packard:scsi-hpvsa
esxcli software vib install --viburl=/vmfs/volumes/[NAME OF DATASTORE]/scsi-hpvsa-5.5.0-88OEM.550.0.0.1331820.x86_64.vib

If you get an error saying bootbank cannot be live installed

The error will be similar to the following:

The transaction is not supported: VIB VMware_bootbank_esx-base cannot be live installed. VIB VMware_bootbank_esx-base cannot be removed live.

The bootbank is the system image that ESXi loads into a ramdisk and boots off. It is only used during startup and during updates. The error is generally due to two things. First is corruption and second is if the boot device is not accessible for some reason. On the Gen8 Microserver, doing an iLO update whilst the system is running may cause the micro-SD reader to temporarily stop working. The solution is to shutdown the host, unplug the machine for 5 seconds, plug it back in and attempt the update again. Edited June 18, 2015 by GotNoTime

[GotNoTime 219]

HP have released scsi-hpvsa-5.5.0.98-1OEM.550.0.0.1331820.x86_64.vib but it still causes extreme performance issues. It doesn't appear that they've actually changed anything significant in the driver. My recommendation is to stay with 5.5.0-88.0 still as that is the last version that works.

 

If the latest version available from vibsdepot is newer than 5.5.0.98-1 then you will need to test the driver yourself or wait for somebody else to test it.

 

5.5.0.98-1

Updates driver versioning and release numbering to fix VUM issue.

 

5.5.0.92-1

Spin lock update to fix a potential boot hang.

 

5.5.0-90.0

Fixes an issue where HDD logical volumes were not being detected at installation.

Fixes an issue where an updated driver was not persistent after a reboot. Previously, after updating the driver and rebooting, the system would revert to the originally installed driver.

 

5.5.0-88.0

Adds VMkernel style device naming in procinfo alongside hp naming scheme.

 

5.5.0-86.0

Fixed locking issue that caused the number of commands outstanding to increment/decrement incorrectly, and allowed it to creep upwards.

Fixed an issue where dynamic allocation of memory for the ioctl handler would cause an NMI when it ran out of memory.

Improved locking to prevent race condition when querying OS_get_status

Fixes a miscompare issue when updating global_ris, driver_state and spare_map information.

 

5.5.0-84.00

Added Optical drive support improvements.

 

5.5.0-70.0

When the embedded storage controller is configured in AHCI mode, a cache flush is no longer issued upon shutdown.

Previously, when a system that was running an earlier version of the driver was shutdown, a cache flush would be issued to the embedded controller and the system would fail and display the purple-screen-of-death.

Edited June 18, 2015 by GotNoTime

[Joe_Miner 234]

Thanks!

[snapper 33]

I find its easier to patch directly onto the host, rather than downloading to a datastore. Section 3 on this page has the instructions: https://esxi-patches.v-front.de/Help.html

 

The v-front patch portal is also useful: https://esxi-patches.v-front.de/as it lists the actual download file name you need for the command above.

 

Advantage of both those is that you don't need a VMWare login to use them

 

[ChEeSyBoOfS 7]

What a great well constructed post.

 

Also for anyone interested I have, as promised, documented the components and configuration of my WORKING VMware 5.5 Microserver VSAN implementation.

 

http://www.cheesyboofs.co.uk/esxi-vsan-microserver-homelab

 

Regards

[GotNoTime 219]

I've made a mistake with the HP updates section but can't edit the main article to correct it. I use VUM so I rarely ever update a host directly :|

[Shrapnel 3]

Hi All,

 

I found this step-by-step guide for downgrading to 5.5.0-88.0 very helpful.

 

https://communities.vmware.com/message/2511819#2511819

[19marek19 0]

I've made a mistake with the HP updates section but can't edit the main article to correct it. I use VUM so I rarely ever update a host directly :|

 

What's wrong?

[TLN 7]

FYI: Tried to install ESXi 6.0 from HP image to Microserver with 2x2Gb ram via ilO console. 

ESXi throwed an error that I dont have enough ram(3.88 vs 4.0). 

So you need at least 8 gigs, even that ESXi requres 4gigs. 

[psykix 27]

I think the Matrox card takes some system ram for VRAM.

It would work with a 4Gb+2Gb stick.