You receive an error on boot of the Symantec Messaging Gateway (SMG): "Kernel panic - not syncing: Attempted to kill init!"

Products

• Messaging Gateway

Issue/Introduction

Symantec Messaging Gateway 9.x Virtual Edition 9.5.2 or higher kernel panics if the SCSI controller type is changed to LSI SAS.

At booting phase

switchroot: mount failed: No such file or directory
Kernel panic - not syncing: Attempted to kill init!
<0>Rebooting in 5 seconds..
     

 

Cause

The SCSI controller type has to be changed prior to updating Symantec Messaging Gateway 9.x Virtual Edition to any version higher than 9.5.1.

• Changing the SCSI controller type on Symantec Messaging Gateway 9.x Virtual Edition 9.5.1 or earlier will not result in a Kernel Panic.
   
• Changing the SCSI controller type on Symantec Messaging Gateway 9.x Virtual Edition 9.5.2 or higher will result in a Kernel Panic. 

 

Resolution

• If Symantec Messaging Gateway 9.x is running on version 9.5.1 or earlier, change the SCSI Controller to LSI SAS and then upgrade.
   
• If Symantec Messaging Gateway 9.x is already being upgraded and running on version 9.5.2 or higher,  create a new Virtual Machine with SCSI controller set to LSI SAS and import a Backup from the original Messaging Gateway. Alternatively revert the original machine to previous version and change the SCSI controller type prior to the upgrade.

Changing SCSI controller type is crucial to keep the Virtual Machine compatible with newer versions of Symantec Messaging Gateway.

 

Note: If you are not seeing LSI SAS a selectable option for the VMware SCSI controller you will need to convert the virtual hardware version to 7. For steps on this process, please refer to the following KB:
http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH131350

 

 

Applies To

Symantec Messaging Gateway 9.x

VMware ESX/ESXi  4.0 and 4.1