VMware has published a patch for ESXi 5.5
Product: VMware ESXi 5.5
Release date: October 6, 2015
Patch: ESXi550-201510001
Build: 3116895
Links: KB2133824 | Download
The patch resolves the Snapshot Bug in 5.5 Update 3 that has been documented by VMware in KB: KB2133118
The ESXi Installable has also been replaced with ESXi 5.5 Update 3a (ESXi 5.5 Update 3 is gone):
- VMware ESXi 5.5.0 Update 3a [Release Notes] [Download]
This patch updates the esx-base VIB to resolve an issue where snapshot consolidation or deletion results in the virtual machines running on VMware ESXi 5.5 Update 3 hosts to fail with the error: Unexpected signal: 11. You will see an log message similar to the following in the vmware.log file:
[YYYY-MM-DD] Z| vcpu-0| I120: SNAPSHOT: SnapshotDiskTreeFind: Detected node change from 'scsiX:X' to ''.
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The latest ESXi 5.5.0 Build number is now: 3116895
Updated: ESXi Release and Build Number History
Updated: VMware Product Latest Version
Updated: ESXi Image Profiles
Pingback: VMware ESXi 5.5 Update 3 Snapshot Bug | Virten.net
Do you know if the VMware ESXi 5.5 Update 3 (build 3029944) has to be installed first before this build can be installed? I notice that this zip file is nearly half the size of the other.
I suppose the safe approach is to assume that both are required.
It's absolutely safe to update to 3116895 directely. All patch depots (zip files) that you can download from VMware are cumulative. That means, all patches do always contain all previous patches.
The total size of ESXi is ~300MB. The size of the package depends on whether the update contains security and non security updates, or only one type of update. If a update contains security and non-security updates, VMware gives you the opportunity to install security patches only. That's why the package is 600 MB (300MB for all patches, and 300MB for security only patches)
More (and official) information here:
https://blogs.vmware.com/vsphere/2013/10/are-esxi-patches-cumulative.html
Thanks for the feedback! I was wondering why some archives were larger than others.
After reading further on that blog post and this earlier post:
https://blogs.vmware.com/vsphere/2012/02/understanding-esxi-patches-finding-patches.html
It sounds like in the majority of cases the patches are cumulative, although it sounds like the point releases are not. I guess they're referring to 6.0.x updates?
All ESXi 5.x and 6.0 patches are cumulative. Also there is no 6.0.x, Only 6.0 Build XXXXXXX. If you take a look at the Release History (http://www.virten.net/vmware/esxi-release-build-number-history/), you can see a build number for each "patch" or "update". In fact, there is not really a difference between "patches" and "updates". Everytime when VMware fixes something, they publish a complete copy of the ESXi as update or patch. So when you install the "zip Bundle", you effectively replace your entire hypervisor. The only real difference between patches and updates are that updates are available als installable ISO file, patches only as bundle for existing host. To stress that a little bit, you can for example take a patch bundle and make a bootable ESXi out of it, as explained here: http://www.virten.net/2014/12/howto-create-an-esxi-iso-that-contains-all-patches/
It's a little bit more complex because the update bundle also contains lot's of drivers. But with simple words, and if you dont install single vibs out of a bundle the statement is true ;-)