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[Heads up] Do not update to vSphere 7 U3 when running thin-provisioned VMDKs

  • October 24, 2021
  • 12 comments
  • 2937 views
vNote42
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A bad bug was found in VMware vSphere 7 U3. A ESXi host may crashes with a PSOD when running thin-provisioned VMDKs. Currently there is not solution available. There are a few workarounds but no easy ones:

  • Downgrade to older version,
  • Convert all VMs (VMDKs) to Thick-provisioned,
  • Disable TRIM/UNMAP in Guest OS.


For more information see official VMware KB: https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/86100

@jorge.delacruz  already posed about the issue: https://jorgedelacruz.uk/2021/10/22/vmware-psod-after-updating-to-vsphere-esxi-7-0-update-3-panic-requested-by-another-pcpu-thin-provisioned-vms/

Maybe good news: U3a is already announced: https://blogs.vmware.com/vsphere/2021/10/vsphere-update-3a.html

 

Wolfgang | vnote42.net | @vNote42
jorge.delacruz
Mildur
MicoolPaul

12 comments

jorge.delacruz
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  • jorge.delacruz
  • Community Manager
  • October 24, 2021

Thanks for the heads up here is as well. The vSphere 7.0 U3a it is just for vCenter, so this specific issue which affects ESXi it has not been addressed on any public build, might be hotfixes but I am not sure.

My advice will be, do not update to ESXi 7.0.3, vCenter is fine, just not the ESXi,l it seems it happens sometimes, when some big unmap blocks happen, etc. But still, better not to risk

Twitter: @jorgedlcruz / Web: https://jorgedelacruz.uk / vExpert: 2014-2025 / InfluxAce / Grafana Champion
Chris.Childerhose
Mildur
vNote42
Mildur
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  • Mildur
  • Influencer
  • October 24, 2021

Thanks Jorge and Wolfgang

Senior Analyst, Product Management @ Veeam Software
Chris.Childerhose
Nico Losschaert
MicoolPaul
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  • MicoolPaul
  • October 24, 2021

There’s a second less discussed bug that is also doing the rounds, HA not working after installing u3a, vCenter is getting a 503 trying to log into the ESXi hosts and vpxa log on the hosts is showing messages about host changed and failed to diff ha-host:network.

 

So yeah, u3a is a bust 😩

Michael Paul - Opinions are my own and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Veeam | https://micoolpaul.com | Mastodon: @micoolpaul@masto.nu | Bluesky: @micoolpaul.com
Chris.Childerhose
Mildur
Nico Losschaert
regnor
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  • regnor
  • Veeam MVP
  • October 24, 2021

VMware is still unlucky with their updates; it looks like every release in the last time contained some kind of certain bug. I'm missing the stability which ESXi used to have; instead we get new features with every minor release which used to be major versions in the past.

By the way, the KB already changed since Friday, as it contained much less information in that day.

 

Max M. | Systems Engineer @Veeam | VMCE/VMCA | VeeaMVP 2023 | former Legend & Vanguard
Chris.Childerhose
MicoolPaul
Nico Losschaert
Chris.Childerhose
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  • Chris.Childerhose
  • Veeam Legend, Veeam Vanguard
  • October 24, 2021

Yeah saw this bug after doing vCenter but left my hosts at U2 cause of the USB NIC fling as they had not updated it for U3 yet. So stayed safe on this one as most my VMs are thin provisioned. 👍

Chris Childerhose - VMCA2024 | VMCE2023 | VMCE-SP2024 | Veeam Vanguard 8* | Veeam Legend 5* | VUG Canada Leader | vExpert 6* | Toronto VMUG Leader | VCAP-DCV/VCP-DCV | Object First Ace | Cisco Champion | Twitter: @cchilderhose | Blog Site – https://just-virtualization.tech
Nico Losschaert
Nico Losschaert
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  • Nico Losschaert
  • On the path to Greatness
  • October 24, 2021

Thx @vNote42 , it seems that Microsoft is not the only one putting customers and partners into problems with new updates :wink:

#Veeam Legend 5* | VMCA 3* | VMCE 4* | VMTSP+ 2* | VMSP 2* | DCIE 2* | Loves Best Practices | Twitter : @NLosschaert
Chris.Childerhose
MicoolPaul
vNote42
vNote42
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  • vNote42
  • Author
  • On the path to Greatness
  • October 24, 2021

VMware is still unlucky with their updates; it looks like every release in the last time contained some kind of certain bug. I'm missing the stability which ESXi used to have; instead we get new features with every minor release which used to be major versions in the past.

By the way, the KB already changed since Friday, as it contained much less information in that day.

 

Being unlucky with their updates is a nice way of saying they have a huge quality problem these days! :grin:

Wolfgang | vnote42.net | @vNote42
Chris.Childerhose
MicoolPaul
Michael Melter
regnor
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  • regnor
  • Veeam MVP
  • October 25, 2021

VMware is still unlucky with their updates; it looks like every release in the last time contained some kind of certain bug. I'm missing the stability which ESXi used to have; instead we get new features with every minor release which used to be major versions in the past.

By the way, the KB already changed since Friday, as it contained much less information in that day.

 

Being unlucky with their updates is a nice way of saying they have a huge quality problem these days! :grin:

Let’s hope they don’t share the same QA department with Microsoft :see_no_evil::rofl:

Max M. | Systems Engineer @Veeam | VMCE/VMCA | VeeaMVP 2023 | former Legend & Vanguard
Chris.Childerhose
BertrandFR
Michael Melter
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All these issues with U3 paired with now dropping our most widely used boot method in our customer environments (µSD-RAID1) is really giving me some headache. Reminds me of those times where they were destroying CBT several times within a single year...

Michael Melter - #VeeamLegend #veeam100 | VMCT | VMCE9 | VMCE2020 | VMCE2023 | VMCE2021 | VMCAv1 | VMCA2022 | VMCA2024 | VCP | MCP | DCIE | PhD | VDST TL3
Chris.Childerhose
BertrandFR
Michael Melter
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Another reason why I love Veeam. QA is so much better. I would even run a beta productively with Veeam…

Michael Melter - #VeeamLegend #veeam100 | VMCT | VMCE9 | VMCE2020 | VMCE2023 | VMCE2021 | VMCAv1 | VMCA2022 | VMCA2024 | VCP | MCP | DCIE | PhD | VDST TL3
Chris.Childerhose
MicoolPaul
BertrandFR
vNote42
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  • vNote42
  • Author
  • On the path to Greatness
  • October 25, 2021

All these issues with U3 paired with now dropping our most widely used boot method in our customer environments (µSD-RAID1) is really giving me some headache. Reminds me of those times where they were destroying CBT several times within a single year...

Yes! But since than, CBT was quite stable and trustworthy. I was hoping, after all these bugs U1 and U2, we higher quality in U3. :unamused:

Wolfgang | vnote42.net | @vNote42
Chris.Childerhose
BertrandFR
vNote42
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  • vNote42
  • Author
  • On the path to Greatness
  • October 28, 2021

VMware resolves the issue in U3a

https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/7.0/rn/vsphere-esxi-70u3a-release-notes.html#whatsnew

 

 

Wolfgang | vnote42.net | @vNote42
Chris.Childerhose
Mildur
regnor
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