Due to a possible dead lock on rpmdb, upgrading ESX 4.0 to 4.0 Update 1 can fail or time out and leave the host in an unusable state
Symptoms
When attempting to upgrade ESX 4.0 to ESX 4.0 Update 1 (U1), you may experience these symptoms:
- Upgrade operation may fail or hang and can result in an incomplete installation
- Upon reboot, the host that was being upgraded may be left in an inconsistent state and may display a purple diagnostic screen with the following error:
COS Panic: Int3 @ mp_register_ioapic
Purpose
ESX 4.0 U1 includes an upgrade to glibc version 5.3 which implements a change in locking mechanism compared to glibc version 5.2 alreay installed with ESX 4.0. If rpm command is run during the installation of ESX 4.0 U1, a dead lock may be placed on rpmdb. See RedHat PR 463921.
As a result, upgrading ESX 4.0 to 4.0 U1 can fail or time out and leave the host in an unusable state.
While this issue is not hardware vendor specific, this has been reported to occur on HP Proliant systems if Insight Management Agents are already installed and running on the host being upgraded. Investigations into this issue revealed that Insight Management Agents run rpm command on a regular basis which triggers the deadlock during the U1 installation. This can also occur on any system from other vendors if you happen to manually run the rpm command, e.g. rpm -qa, while Update 1 installation is in progress.
Note: VMware esxupdate tool can be used standalone and is also used by VMware Update Manager and VMware Host Update Utility.
Resolution
Who is affected
1. Customers using VMware vSphere 4 upgrading to ESX 4.0 U1 on HP Proliant systems with a supported version of HP Insight Management Agents running.
2. Customers running rpm command on systems from any vendor while upgrading to ESX 4.0 U1.
This affects any of the following upgrading scenarios:
- Upgrade using Update Manager
- Upgrade using esxupdate
- Upgrade using vSphere Host Update Utility
Note: ESXi is not affected.
Note: If you want to install the update, you must download the update manually. The update is no longer available for automatic download in Update Manager and the vSphere Update Utility. You can find the update on the VMware Downloads site and copy the download to your local depot as needed.
Solution
To avoid this issue, do both of the following:
1. Do not run rpm command on any host while Update 1 installation is in progress
2. If Update 1 will be installed on an HP Proliant Server, disable HP Insight Management Agents running on the ESX 4.0.0 host prior to installing Update 1
HP Insight Management Agents can be stopped using the following sequence of commands:
- service hpsmhd stop
- service hp-snmp-agents stop
- service hp-health stop
HP management agents will be automatically restarted after the upgarde is complete and the system is rebooted.
If you meet one or both conditions listed above under “Who is affected” section and you already ran Update 1 installation but have not rebooted the host yet, do not reboot the ESX host and contact VMware Technical Support for assistance. For more information, see How to Submit a Support Request.
WARNING: Rebooting the host means the host may need to be reinstalled because it is not recoverable after a reboot.
WARNING: If you have virtual machines running on local storage, they may not be retained if you reinstall ESX 4.0 as a result of this issue. Contact VMware Support for assistance before reinstalling.
Tags: 3, 4, a, api, boot, C, da, data, dead, di, DISABLE, esx, ESXi, gg, hardware, il, lock, MANAGER, nt, on, PEN, per, R, report, rpmdb, server, STORAGE, su, the, upgrading, virtual, VmWare, WIN, xpRelated posts
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