Backing up and restoring the vCenter Server Appliance vPostgres database (2034505)

Backing up and restoring the vCenter Server Appliance vPostgres database (2034505)

Purpose

This article provides steps to back up and restore the vCenter Server Appliance's (VCSA) vPostgres database.

Note: This article is only supported for backup and restore of the vPostgres database to the same vCenter Server Appliance. Use of image-based backup and restore is the only solution supported for performing a full, secondary appliance restore.

Resolution

Before you proceed, ensure that you have these installed:

• SSH client for connecting to the vCenter Server Appliance.
• WinSCP (or any SCP client) for retrieving and replacing the vPostgres database recovery file.

Backing up the embedded vPostgres database

To back up the embedded vPostgres database:

1. Connect to the vCenter Server Appliance via SSH. For more information, see Enable or Disable SSH Administrator Login on the VMware vCenter Server Appliance section in the vCenter Server and Host Management Guide.
   
2. When prompted, log in as the root user. The default password is vmware.
3. Stop the VMware vCenter Server service by running this command:
   
   service vmware-vpxd stop
   
4. On the vCenter Server Appliance virtual machine, navigate to the vPostgres utility directory using this command:
   
   cd /opt/vmware/vpostgres/1.0/bin
   
   
5. To display the vPostgres database configuration file, run this command:
   
   cat /etc/vmware-vpx/embedded_db.cfg
   
   
6. To back up the vCenter Server database, run this command:
   
   ./pg_dump EMB_DB_INSTANCE -U EMB_DB_USER -Fp -c > VCDBBackupFile
   
   Fill in the EMD_DB_INSTANCE and EMB_DB_USER from the embedded_db.cfg configuration information listed in Step 5. Fill in the VCDBBackupFile with the location and file name to generated, for example:
   
   ./pg_dump VCDB -U vc -Fp -c > /tmp/VCDBackUp
   
   Caution: The /tmp/ directory is reset after rebooting the vCenter Server Appliance. VMware recommends that if this location is used, backup should be moved to a persistent location.
   
   Note: If prompted, enter the EMB_DB_PASSWORD password.
   
   
7. Using WinSCP, connect to the vCenter Server Appliance and download the VCDBackUp file from /tmp/
8. Start the VMware VirtualCenter Server service by running this command:
   
   service vmware-vpxd start
   
   

Restoring from the backend vPostgres database file

To restore from the back up vPostgres database file:

Note: Ensure that you take a snapshot of the vCenter Server Appliance virtual machine before proceeding. This allows you to restore the database from the snapshot if this restore procedure fails.

1. Connect to the vCenter Server Appliance via SSH. For more information, see Enable or Disable SSH Administrator Login on the VMware vCenter Server Appliance section in the vCenter Server and Host Management Guide.
2. Using WinSCP, connect to the vCenter Server Appliance and upload the backup copy of the VCDBackUp file into the /tmp/ directory
3. To display the new vPostgres database configuration file, run this command:
   
   cat /etc/vmware-vpx/embedded_db.cfg
   
4. Navigate to the vPostgres utility directory by running this command:
   
   cd /opt/vmware/vpostgres/1.0/bin
   
   
5. Stop the VMware vCenter Server service by running this command:
   
   service vmware-vpxd stop
   
6. To restore the vCenter Server vPostgres database from backup, run this command:
   
   PGPASSWORD='EMB_DB_PASSWORD' ./psql -d EMB_DB_INSTANCE -Upostgres -f VCDBBackupFile
   
   Fill in the EMD_DB_INSTANCE and EMB_DB_PASSWORD from the embedded_db.cfg configuration information listed in Step 3. Fill in the VCDBBackupFile with the location and file name to be used, for example:
   
   PGPASSWORD='g<T4EuybGsA=kG$G' ./psql -d VCDB -Upostgres -f /tmp/VCDBackUp
   
   Note: Use single-quotes (') around the password as shown in the embedded_db.cfg configuration file.
   
   
7. To restart the VMware VirtualCenter Server service for the database restore to take effect, run this command:
   
   service vmware-vpxd start

Interpreting an ESX/ESXi host purple diagnostic screen

Interpreting an ESX/ESXi host purple diagnostic screen (1004250) 

Purpose

This article provides information to decode ESX/ESXi host purple screen errors.
An ESX/ESXi purple screen error appears similar to:

Note: This article uses the information in this purple screen as an example.

Resolution

What is the VMkernel?

The VMkernel is the operating system core of ESX/ESXi. The kernel handles resource scheduling and device IO. Device IO is handled by the VMware network and storage stacks, which serve as a layer between the virtual file system, network devices and the device drivers that control physical devices.

Interpreting the purple diagnostic screen

If the VMkernel experiences an error, the error displays in a purple diagnostic screen. The purple diagnostic screen looks similar to:
VMware ESX Server [Releasebuild-98103
PCPU 1 locked up. Failed to ack TLB invalidate.
frame=0x3a37d98 ip=0x625e94 cr2=0x0 cr3=0x40c66000 cr4=0x16c
es=0xffffffff ds=0xffffffff fs=0xffffffff gs=0xffffffff
eax=0xffffffff ebx=0xffffffff ecx=0xffffffff edx=0xffffffff
ebp=0x3a37ef4 esi=0xffffffff edi=0xffffffff err=-1 eflags=0xffffffff
*0:1037/helper1-4 1:1107/vmm0:Fagi 2:1121/vmware-vm 3:1122/mks:Franc
0x3a37ef4:[0x625e94]Panic+0x17 stack: 0x833ab4, 0x3a37f10, 0x3a37f48
0x3a37f04:[0x625e94]Panic+0x17 stack: 0x833ab4, 0x1, 0x14a03a0
0x3a37f48:[0x64bfa4]TLBDoInvalidate+0x38f stack: 0x3a37f54, 0x40, 0x2
0x3a37f70:[0x66da4d]XMapForceFlush+0x64 stack: 0x0, 0x4d3a, 0x0
0x3a37fac:[0x652b8b]helpFunc+0x2d2 stack: 0x1, 0x14a4580, 0x0
0x3a37ffc:[0x750902]CpuSched_StartWorld+0x109 stack: 0x0, 0x0, 0x0
0x3a38000:[0x0]blk_dev+0xfd76461f stack: 0x0, 0x0, 0x0
VMK uptime: 7:05:43:45.014 TSC: 1751259712918392
Starting coredump to disk Starting coredump to disk Dumping using slot 1 of 1...using slot 1 of 1... log

Here is a breakdown of each section of the above purple diagnostic screen:

• The Product and Build:
  
  VMware ESX Server [Releasebuild-98103]
  
  This section of the purple diagnostic screen identifies the product and build that has experienced the error. In this example, the product is VMware ESX Server build 98103.
  
  
• The Error Message:
  
  PCPU 1 locked up. Failed to ack TLB invalidate
  This section of the purple diagnostic screen identifies the error message that has been reported. There are only a finite number of error messages that can be reported. These error messages are discussed later in this article.
  
  
• The CPU Registers:
  
  frame=0x3a37d98 ip=0x625e94 cr2=0x0 cr3=0x40c66000 cr4=0x16c
es=0xffffffff ds=0xffffffff fs=0xffffffff gs=0xffffffff
eax=0xffffffff ebx=0xffffffff ecx=0xffffffff edx=0xffffffff
ebp=0x3a37ef4 esi=0xffffffff edi=0xffffffff err=-1 eflags=0xffffffff
  These are the values that were in the physical CPU registers at the time of the error. The information in these registers may vary greatly between VMkernel errors. These registers can only be used internally when debugging a core dump of the VMkernel error. For more information about these registers, see http://www.intel.com/products/processor/manuals/ for Intel and http://support.amd.com/us/psearch/Pages/psearch.aspx for AMD. At the AMD site, search for the Architecture Programmer's manual for your specific processor type.
  
  Note: The preceding links were correct as of March 28, 2013. If you find the links to be broken, provide feedback on the article and a VMware employee will update the article as necessary.
  
• The Physical CPU:
  
  *0:1037/helper1-4 1:1107/vmm0:Fagi 2:1121/vmware-vm 3:1122/mks:Franc
  
  This section of the purple diagnostic screen identifies the physical CPU that was running instructions during the VMkernel error. In the example, the * beside the 0 indicates that physical CPU 0 was running an operation at the time of the failure. In newer versions of ESX, instead of including an *, the preceding letters CPU are included. For example, if the same error as the above were to occur in newer versions of VMware ESX, the same line appears as:
  
  CPU0:1037/helper1-4 cpu1:1107/vmm0:Fagi cpu2:1121/vmware-vm cpu3:1122/mks:Franc.
  This section of the purple diagnostic screen also describes the world (process) that was running on the CPU at the time of the error. In the above example, the userworld running was helper1-4.
  
  Note: The name of the process may be truncated.
  
  
• The Stack Trace:
  
  0x3a37ef4:[0x625e94]Panic+0x17 stack: 0x833ab4, 0x3a37f10, 0x3a37f48
0x3a37f04:[0x625e94]Panic+0x17 stack: 0x833ab4, 0x1, 0x14a03a0
0x3a37f48:[0x64bfa4]TLBDoInvalidate+0x38f stack: 0x3a37f54, 0x40, 0x2
0x3a37f70:[0x66da4d]XMapForceFlush+0x64 stack: 0x0, 0x4d3a, 0x0
0x3a37fac:[0x652b8b]helpFunc+0x2d2 stack: 0x1, 0x14a4580, 0x0
0x3a37ffc:[0x750902]CpuSched_StartWorld+0x109 stack: 0x0, 0x0, 0x0
0x3a38000:[0x0]blk_dev+0xfd76461f stack: 0x0, 0x0, 0x0
  
  The stack represents what the VMkernel was doing at the time of the error. In this example, it was trying to clear memory page tables (TLB). This information is a vital tool in the diagnosis of purple screen errors by evaluating the actions of the kernel at the time of the error.
  
  
• The Uptime:
  
  VMK uptime: 7:05:43:45.014 TSC: 1751259712918392
  
  This section indicates how long a server had been running since the last boot. In this example, the ESX host was running for 7 days, 5 hours, 43 minutes and 45.014 seconds. The TSC value is the number of CPU clock cycles that have elapsed since the server was started.
  
  
• The Core Dump:
  
  Starting coredump to disk Starting coredump to disk Dumping using slot 1 of 1...using slot 1 of 1... log
  This section of the purple diagnostic screen indicates that the contents of the VMkernel memory are being copied to the vmkcore partition.
  

Using the error message of the purple diagnostic screen to troubleshoot a vmkernel error

The VMkernel error message generated by the purple screen can be used to identify the cause of the issue. The number of error messages that can be produced are finite. This is a list of known VMkernel error messages.

• Type: Console Oops
  Example Error:COS Error: Oops
  Description: An ESX host can fail and cause a purple screen when there is a Service Console oops. Unlike most purple screen errors, it is not triggered by the VMkernel. Instead the error is triggered by the Service Console and occurs at the Linux level. These purple screen errors contain additional information from the Linux kernel. For more information about Console Oops, see Understanding an "Oops" purple diagnostic screen (1006802).
  
  
• Type: Lost Heartbeat
  Example Error:Lost Heartbeat
  Description: The ESX VMkernel and the Service Console Linux kernel run at the same time on ESX. The Service Console Linux kernel runs a process called vmnixhbd, which heartbeats the VMkernel as long as it is able to allocate and free a page of memory. If no heartbeats are received before a timeout period of 30 minutes, the VMkernel triggers a COS Panic and a purple diagnostics screen that mentions a Lost Heartbeat. For more information on Lost Heatbeats, see Understanding a "Lost Heartbeat" purple diagnostic screen (1009525) .
  
  
• Type: Assert
  Example Error:ASSERT bora/vmkernel/main/pframe_int.h:527
  Description: Assert errors are software errors, because they are related to assumptions on which the program is based. This type of purple screen error is primarily caused by software issues. For more information on the assert error message, see Understanding ASSERT and NOT_IMPLEMENTED purple diagnostic screens (1019956).
  
  
• Type: Not Implemented
  Example Error: NOT_IMPLEMENTED /build/mts/release/bora-84374/bora/vmkernel/main/util.c:83
  Description: A not implemented error message occurs when the code encounters a situation that it was not designed to handle. For more information, see Understanding ASSERT and NOT_IMPLEMENTED purple diagnostic screens (1019956).
  
  
• Type: Spin count exceeded / Possible deadlock
  Example Error: Spin count exceeded (iplLock) - possible deadlock
  Description: A VMware ESX host may report a Spin count exceeded and possible deadlock in a purple diagnostic screen when a thread is attempting to execute in the critical section of code. Since it was trying to enter the critical section, the thread needed to poll a mutex for a lock prior to executing the code by conducting a spinlock operation. The thread continues to poll the mutex during the spinlock operation, but there is a certain limit of how many times it polls the mutex. For more information on Spin count exceeded errors, see Understanding a "Spin count exceeded" purple diagnostic screen (1020105).
  
  
• Type: Failed to ack TLB invalidate
  Example Error: PCPU 1 locked up. Failed to ack TLB invalidate.
  Description: Physical CPUs fail when trying to clear memory page tables. For more information, see Understanding a Failed to ack TLB invalidate purple diagnostic screen (1020214).

A purple diagnostic screen can also come in the form of an Exception. An Exception Handler is a computer hardware mechanism designed to handle some condition that changes the normal flow of execution (Division by Zero, Page Fault, etc). There is no trace from handlers, so you need logging to determine if handler faulted (or single step debugging). This is a list of common exceptions:

• Type: Exception 13 (General Protection Fault)
  Example Error: #GP Exception(13) in world 4130:helper13-0 @ 0x41803399e303
  Description: A general protection fault (Exception 13) occurs under one of the following circumstances: the page being requested does not belong to the program requesting it (and not mapped in program memory), or the program does not have rights to perform a read or write operation on the page. For more information on Exception 13 or Page Fault, see Understanding Exception 13 and Exception 14 purple diagnostic screen events (1020181).
  
  
• Type: Exception 14 (Page Fault)
  Example Error: #PF Exception type 14 in world 136:helper0-0 @ 0x4a8e6e
  Description: A page fault (Exception 14) occurs when the page being requested has not been successfully loaded into memory. For more information on Exception 14 or Page Fault, see Understanding Exception 13 and Exception 14 purple diagnostic screen events (1020181).
  
  
• Type: Exception 18 (Machine Check Exception)
  Example Error: Machine Check Exception: Unable to continue
  Example Error: Hardware (Machine) Error
  Description: A Machine Check Exception (MCE) is generated by the hardware and reported by the host. Consult your hardware vendor in the event of an MCE. By evaluating the information presented, it is possible to identify the individual component reporting the error. For more information on MCE, see Decoding Machine Check Exception (MCE) output after a purple screen error (1005184).

If your VMware ESX or ESXi host experiences an error similar to one of these that does not point you to a general article, search for the error message and stack trace information within the Knowledge Base. If the error has not been documented within the Knowledge Base, collect the diagnostic information from the VMware ESX host and submit a support request. For more information, see Collecting diagnostic information for VMware products (1008524) and and How to Submit a Support Request.

Using the pattern analysis to troubleshoot multiple vmkernel errors on the same ESX host

In the event that you experience multiple purple diagnostic screens from the same VMware ESX host, you can use the sample of multiple purple diagnostic screens to determine the likeliness of an issue being related to hardware or software. This can be done by identifying patterns in these sections of the purple diagnostic screen:

• The error message and the stack trace:
  
  
  • If the error message and stack vary greatly between vmkernel errors, this indicates that software is not always hitting the same error. Although inconclusive, this may indicate a hardware issue.
  • If the error message and the stack are always identical between vmkernel errors, this indicates that software is always hitting the same error. Although inconclusive, this may indicate a software issue.
  • For more information about the error message you are experiencing, refer to the above section about the specific error message.
    
• The physical CPU:
  
  
  • If the physical CPU value remains the same across multiple vmkernel errors, this indicates that the software is always failing on the same physical CPU. Although inconclusive, this may indicate a CPU issue.
  • For more information, see Determining if virtual machine and ESX host unresponsiveness is caused by hardware issues (1003560).
    
• The world:
  
  
  • If the world value remains the same across multiple VMkernel errors, this indicates that the vmkernel is failing when receiving instructions from the same world. Although inconclusive, this may indicate a world is sending instructions that may be triggering the VMkernel error.

Understanding Exception 13 and Exception 14 purple diagnostic screen events in ESX 3.x/4.x and ESXi 3.x/4.x/5.x

Understanding Exception 13 and Exception 14 purple diagnostic screen events in ESX 3.x/4.x and ESXi 3.x/4.x/5.x (1020181)

Symptoms

You experience purple diagnostic screens that contain information similar to:

• [VMware ESX [Releasebuild-164009 X86_64
#GP Exception(13) in world 4130:helper13-0 @ 0x41803399e303

• [VMware ESX Server [Releasebuild-123630]
#PF Exception type 14 in world 1024:console @ 0x67f0ae

Purpose

Notes:

• If you have an "Exception 14" purple diagnostic screen that exactly matches the symptoms outlined in this article, see VMware ESX 3.5 Update 5, Patch ESX350-200911201-UG: Updates VMkernel, Service Console, hostd (1015025).
• If you encounter a purple diagnostic screen that does not match the symptoms above, see Interpreting an ESX/ESXi host purple diagnostic screen (1004250).
• If the error has not been documented within the Knowledge Base, collect diagnostic information from the ESX host and submit a support request. For more information, see Collecting diagnostic information for VMware products (1008524) and How to Submit a Support Request.

Resolution

Overview

Operating systems manage the physical memory on a system by employing several methods:

• Virtual memory or paging is designed to abstract the physical memory into virtual memory. This abstraction allows the operating system to allocate memory specific to programs and allows for other forms of memory management, including Memory Swapping, Shared Memory, and Memory Protection.
  
  
• Memory Swapping occurs when operating systems optimize memory by moving data that is not being used to slower mediums and vice versa.
  
  
• Shared Memory is a method commonly used if multiple programs need to communicate with each other. Shared memory allows multiple programs to access the same page of memory.
  
  
• Memory Protection prevents a malicious or malfunctioning program from accessing memory pages from other programs.

When a critical application has difficulty accessing memory, it generally manifests with an error involving one of these memory management operations.

Exception 13: General Protection Fault

A general protection fault (Exception 13) occurs under one of these circumstances:

• The page being requested does not belong to the program requesting it (and is not mapped in program memory)
• The program does not have rights to perform a read or write operation on the page

Operating systems maintain a page table that include flags to mark pages as protected. If there is a conflict between the operation and the flag, the operating system traps the illegal request.
Note: Segmentation faults are very similar to general protection faults.
This is a sample of a General Protection Fault generated by ESX:
[VMware ESX [Releasebuild-164009 X86_64
#GP Exception(13) in world 4130:helper13-0 @ 0x41803399e303
frame=0x4100c0117d78 ip=0x41803399e303 cr2=0x0 cr3=0xcff94000
err=0 rflags=0x10246 cr4=0x16c
rax=0x0 rbx=0x417ff492dbe0 rcx=0x417ff386cc80
rdx=0x4100c0117f00 rbp=0x4100c0117f40 rsi=0x4100c0117e30
rdi=0x410008c46220 r8=0x4100c0117e30 r9=0x4100c0117d50
r10=0x3713e1b91ddd3 r11=0x41803399e1fc r12=0x4100c004fde0
r13=0x410008c46220 r14=0x4100c0117e30 r15=0x417ff3614660
0:4096/console *1:4130/helper13- 2:4098/idle2 3:4099/idle3
@BlueScreen: #GP Exception(13) in world 4130:helper13-0 @ 0x41803399e303
Code starts at 0x418033600000
0x4100c0117f40:[0x41803399e303]GetDriverInfo+0x106 stack: 0x410002086ba8
0x4100c0117f80:[0x4180336d9ef3]UplinkProcessAsyncCallsHelperCB+0x126 stack: 0x0
0x4100c0117ff0:[0x418033663670]helpFunc+0x4f7 stack: 0x0
0x4100c0117ff8:[0x0]Unknown stack: 0x0
VMK uptime: 5:13:53:05.627 TSC: 968936502031893
VMK checksum BAD: 0x3ee854ad7f0856e5 0x7009aad95a9042d9
FSbase (0x0) GSbase (0x0) kernelGSbase (0x0)
The Exception 13 General Protection Fault may be caused by either a hardware or a software issue. As the cause may vary significantly for these types of exceptions, a core-dump review may be performed by VMware. This process is usually not possible to perform without access to protected source code and analysis tools or processes. Collect diagnostic information from the VMware ESX host and submit a support request. For more information, see Collecting diagnostic information for VMware products (1008524) and How to Submit a Support Request. You can also contact your hardware vendor if you or VMware Technical Support are able to determine that a particular driver module or device has caused the exception.

Exception 14: Page Fault

A page fault (Exception 14) occurs when the page being requested has not been successfully loaded into memory. There are both healthy and unhealthy page faults:

• A healthy page fault results in the page being loaded from swapped memory to physical memory. The program is then allowed to proceed after the data has been properly loaded into physical memory.
• An unhealthy page fault occurs when the page is not loaded in memory, and the operating system is unable to load the page from swapped to physical memory.

This is a sample of a Page Fault generated by ESX:

[VMware ESX Server [Releasebuild-123630]Exception type 14 in world 1024:console @ 0x67f0ae
frame=0x1402824 ip=0x67f0ae cr2=0x405f6000 cr3=0x13401000 cr4=0x6f0
es=0x4028 ds=0x40404028 fs=0xffff0000 gs=0x0
eax=0x409f6000 ebx=0x1000 ecx=0x400 edx=0x409f6000
ebp=0x14028b4 esi=0x407c8000 edi=0x409f6000 err=11 eflags=0x10206
*0:1024/console 1:1092/mks:ubunt 2:1089/vmware-vm 3:1027/idle3
4:1028/idle4 5:1029/idle5 6:1030/idle6 7:1091/vmware-vm
8:1032/idle8 9:1033/idle9 10:1034/idle10 11:1093/vcpu-0:ub
12:1036/idle12 13:1037/idle13 14:1038/idle14 15:1039/idle15
@BlueScreen: Exception type 14 in world 1024:console @ 0x67f0ae
0x14028b4:[0x67f0ae]genericCopy+0x155 stack: 0xc0bbc60, 0x40081800, 0x0
0x14028dc:[0x67f3d6]vmk_SgCopy+0x41 stack: 0xc0bbc60, 0x40081800, 0x0
0x140292c:[0x7cef13]SCSICompleteFragment+0x1ae stack: 0xc005d00, 0x0, 0xc3100
0x14029c4:[0x7d081c]SCSICompletePathCommand+0x453 stack: 0xc005d00, 0x125, 0x148a4f8
0x1402a60:[0x7cafff]SCSICompleteAdapterCommand+0x3da stack: 0xc005d00, 0x2, 0x1402de0
0x1402ac0:[0x88343f]vmk_scsi_dump_active+0x20e stack: 0x0, 0x10a, 0x6a525f0
0x1402b30:[0x61811e]BHCallHandlersInt+0xf5 stack: 0x2ad0, 0x0, 0x1402b88
0x1402b88:[0x618614]BH_Check+0x2bb stack: 0x1, 0x1402bac, 0x1752d49
0x1402bac:[0x61fb8e]IDT_HandleInterrupt+0x85 stack: 0x1402bf8, 0x0, 0xb638000
0x1402bc0:[0x61fcb5]IDT_IntrHandler+0x4c stack: 0x1402bf8, 0x4028, 0x1454028
0x1402c70:[0x692c6c]CommonIntr+0xb stack: 0x1489500, 0x0, 0x1402de0
0x1402e1c:[0x7615e4]CpuSchedDispatch+0x487 stack: 0x2390a60, 0x1489500, 0x0
0x1402e88:[0x763eaa]CpuSchedDoWaitDirectedYield+0x351 stack: 0x0, 0x1f55e60, 0x0
0x1402ea4:[0x763fda]CpuSched_WaitIRQ+0x31 stack: 0xfedcba90, 0x6, 0x1f55e60
0x1402ec4:[0x69197f]VMNIXVMKSyscall_Idle+0xe2 stack: 0x1402f6c, 0x6915cf, 0x0
0x1402ecc:[0x68669c]VMNIXVMKSyscallUnpackIdle+0x7 stack: 0x0, 0x0, 0x0
0x1402f6c:[0x6915cf]HostSyscall+0xf6 stack: 0x1402fbc, 0xc03d9f98, 0x1c
0x1402fe8:[0x6909e3]HostVMKEntry+0xce stack: 0x0, 0x0, 0x0
VMK uptime: 0:01:58:34.004 TSC: 15137542595232
Starting coredump to disk Starting coredump to disk Dumping using slot 1 of 1... using slot 1 of 1... log

 

The Exception 14 Page Fault may be caused by either a hardware or a software issue. As the cause may vary significantly for these types of exceptions, a core-dump review may be performed by VMware. This process is usually not possible to perform without access to protected source code and analysis tools or processes. Collect diagnostic information from the VMware ESX host and submit a support request. For more information, see Collecting diagnostic information for VMware products (1008524) and How to Submit a Support Request. You can also contact your hardware vendor if you or VMware Technical Support are able to determine a particular driver module or device has caused the exception. To find our more about page-fault exceptions, see the Formats and Encodings of SSE2 Floating-Point Instructions table in the Intel 64 and IA-32 Architectures Software Developer’s Manual.

Extracting the log file after an ESX or ESXi host fails with a purple screen error

Extracting the log file after an ESX or ESXi host fails with a purple screen error

Purpose

This article provides steps to extract a log from a vmkernel-zdump file after a purple diagnostic screen error. This log contains similar information to that seen on the purple diagnostic screen and can be used in further troubleshooting.

This article assumes that a vmkernel-zdump file is available. If an ESX or ESXi host has failed with a purple diagnostic screen, but no vmkernel-zdump file is available, see:

• Collecting diagnostic information from an ESX host that experiences a purple screen (1004128)
• Configuring an ESXi/ESX host to capture a VMkernel coredump from a purple diagnostic screen (1000328)
• Extracting a core dump file from the VMKCore diagnostic partition following a purple diagnostic screen error (1002769)

Note: For generating a VMkernel zdump manually from a dump file in ESXi 5.5, see Generating a VMkernel zdump manually from a dump file in ESXi 5.5 (2081902).

Resolution

To resolve this issue, extract the log file from a vmkernel-zdump file using a command line utility on the ESX or ESXi host. This utility differs for different versions of ESX or ESXi.

• For ESX 3.x use the vmkdump utility:
  
  # vmkdump -l vmkernel-zdump-filename

• For ESXi 3.5, ESXi/ESX 4.x and ESXi 5.x, use the esxcfg-dumppart utility:
  
  # esxcfg-dumppart -L vmkernel-zdump-filename

To extract the log file from a vmkernel-zdump file:

1. Find the vmkernel-zdump file in the /root/ or /var/core/ directory:
   
   # ls /root/vmkernel* /var/core/vmkernel*
/var/core/vmkernel-zdump-073108.09.16.1
   
   
2. Use the vmkdump or esxcfg-dumppart utility to extract the log. For example:
   
   # vmkdump -l /var/core/vmkernel-zdump-073108.09.16.1
created file vmkernel-log.1

# esxcfg-dumppart -L /var/core/vmkernel-zdump-073108.09.16.1
created file vmkernel-log.1
   
   
3. The vmkernel-log.1 file is plain text, though may start with null characters. Focus on the end of the log, which is similar to:
   
   VMware ESX Server [Releasebuild-98103]
PCPU 1 locked up. Failed to ack TLB invalidate.
frame=0x3a37d98 ip=0x625e94 cr2=0x0 cr3=0x40c66000 cr4=0x16c
es=0xffffffff ds=0xffffffff fs=0xffffffff gs=0xffffffff
eax=0xffffffff ebx=0xffffffff ecx=0xffffffff edx=0xffffffff
...
   
   
4. For troubleshooting the cause of the purple diagnostic screen, see Interpreting an ESX host purple diagnostic screen (1004250).

Note: The file name created for the log in this example is vmkernel-log.1. If another file with the same name already exists, the new file is created with the number suffix incremented.

Verifying if management services are running on an ESXi host (2030663)

Verifying if management services are running on an ESXi host (2030663)

Purpose

This article provides steps to check if management services are running on an ESXi host. You may want to perform this check for troubleshooting purposes.

Resolution

To verify if ESXi management services are running:

1. Log in to the ESXi host using Tech Support Mode. For more information, see:
   
   • ESXi 4.1 and later – Using Tech Support Mode in ESXi 4.1 and ESXi 5.x (1017910)
   • ESXi 3.5.x and 4.0 – Tech Support Mode for Emergency Support (1003677)
     
2. Run this command to see if hostd is running:
   
   Type exactly as shown:
   /etc/init.d/hostd status 
   
   You should see output similar to:
   
   hostd is running 
   
   Alternatively, run this command:
   
   ps -s | grep hostd
   
   You should see output similar to:
   
   456566 2878 hostd-worker WAIT UFUTEX 0-7 hostd
   456567 2878 hostd-worker WAIT UFUTEX 0-7 hostd
   
   Alternatively, for ESX 2.0.x to 4.0.x, see Verifying that the Management Service is running on an ESX host (1003494).
   
   Note: If hostd is not running, see Troubleshooting vmware-hostd service if it fails or stops responding on an ESX/ESXi host (1002849).
   
3. If the ESXi host is attached to vCenter Server, run this command to verify that vCenter Server Agent is running:
   
   /etc/init.d/vpxa status 
   
   You should see an output similar to:
   
   vpxa is running
   
   Alternatively, for ESX 2.0.x to 4.1.x, see Verifying that the vCenter Server Agent Service is running on an ESX host (1003495).
   
   Note: If the vCenter Server Agent is not running, see Restarting the Management agents on an ESXi or ESX host(1003490).

Diagnosing the vSphere Client when it fails to connect to an ESX/ESXi host or vCenter Server

Symptoms

• vCenter Server cannot connect to the ESX/ESXi host.
• Connecting vCenter Server to the ESX/ESXi host fails.
• vSphere Client cannot connect to the ESX/ESXi host.
• You see one or more of these errors:
  
  
  • Login failed
  • Login failed due to a bad username or password
  • Cannot complete due login due to an incorrect username or password
  • Timed out waiting for server response
  • Failed To Connect to host

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1003870

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&docTypeID=DT_KB_1_1&externalId=1003490

Restarting the Management agents on ESXi

To restart the management agents on ESXi:

From the Direct Console User Interface (DCUI):

1. Connect to the console of your ESXi host.
2. Press F2 to customize the system.
3. Log in as root.
4. Use the Up/Down arrows to navigate to Restart Management Agents.
   
   Note: In ESXi 4.1 and ESXi 5.0, 5.1 and 5.5, this option is available under Troubleshooting Options.
5. Press Enter.
6. Press F11 to restart the services.
7. When the service has been restarted, press Enter.
8. Press Esc to log out of the system.

Create System Image Backups of Windows 8.1 and Restore from it

Step by Step How to Create System Image Backups of Windows 8.1 and Restore from it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEvoVcB2cXQ#t=210