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January 2015

VMware ESXi 5.x E1000 PSOD Issue

Even though the bug has been fixed I still see it to come up. ESXi 5.x has two issues that might cause the ESXi host to fail with a purple diagnostic screen. Both PSOD look very similiar:

KB2059053:

#PF Exception 14 in world wwww:WorldName IP 0xnnnnnnnn addr 0x0
PTEs:0xnnnnnnnn;0xnnnnnnnn;0x0;
0xnnnnnnnn:[0xnnnnnnnn]E1000PollRxRing@vmkernel#nover+ 0xdb9
0xnnnnnnnn:[0xnnnnnnnn]E1000DevRx@vmkernel#nover+0x18a

KB2079094:

#PF Exception 14 in world wwww:WorldName IP 0xnnnnnnnn addr 0x0
PTEs:0xnnnnnnnn;0xnnnnnnnn;0x0;
0xnnnnnnnn:[0xnnnnnnnn]E1000PollRxRing@vmkernel#nover+0xeb7
0xnnnnnnnn:[0xnnnnnnnn]E1000DevRx@vmkernel#nover+0x18a
[...]
0xnnnnnnnn:[0xnnnnnnnn]Net_AcceptRxList@vmkernel#nover+0x157

Read More »VMware ESXi 5.x E1000 PSOD Issue

How to kill an Unresponsive VM (ESXi 5.x)

When a Virtual Machine crashed it might happen that you cannot power it off with the vSphere Client. In that case, you have to kill the VM through the ESXi command-line.

Connect to the ESXi host with SSH. (If a virtual machine crashed in a cluster and you cannot identify where it is running, you have to identify the ESXi Hosts where the VM is running)

Locate the World ID with esxcli vm process list or vmdumper -lRead More »How to kill an Unresponsive VM (ESXi 5.x)

Patch ESXi to a Specific Version with the Command-line

This post describes how to patch an ESXi host to a specific version with the command-line. It is highly recommended to use the vSphere Update Manager (VUM) for patch management, but there are some cases where you need an alternative. It's probably noting you would do in production, but you might need a specific version to reproduce problems or to comply with policies.

In this example, I am going to patch a standalone ESXi 5.5 host with internet access to build number 2068190. The host is currently running ESXi 5.5.0 Build 2302651. (It's a downgrade)

Read More »Patch ESXi to a Specific Version with the Command-line