ESXi patching fails when /var/tmp/cache partition is corrupt

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• Patching an ESXi host appears successful but actually fails
• Remediation of an ESXi host with Update Manager or the Host Update Utility completes successfully but the patches do not install.
• Subsequent scans show that the patches are not installed.

scratch-partition update-manager-host-upgrade-fails

Environment

VMware ESXi 4.0.x Embedded
VMware ESXi 4.0.x Installable

Cause

This issue is caused if the /var/tmp/cache partition is corrupt.

Resolution

This issue can occur if the /var/tmp/cache partition is corrupt. The /var/tmp/cache is typically located on the second ESXi partition.

For example, from the output of fdisk -l:

Disk /dev/disks/naa.60022190a755060010e2bdf006508786: 898.3 GB, 898319253504 bytes
64 heads, 32 sectors/track, 856704 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 2048 * 512 = 1048576 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/disks/naa.60022190a755060010e2bdf006508786p1 5 900 917504 5 Extended
/dev/disks/naa.60022190a755060010e2bdf006508786p2 901 4845 4039680 6 FAT16
/dev/disks/naa.60022190a755060010e2bdf006508786p3 4846 856704 872303616 fb VMFS
/dev/disks/naa.60022190a755060010e2bdf006508786p4 * 1 4 4080 4 FAT16 <32M<br>/dev/disks/naa.60022190a755060010e2bdf006508786p5 5 254 255984 6 FAT16
/dev/disks/naa.60022190a755060010e2bdf006508786p6 255 504 255984 6 FAT16
/dev/disks/naa.60022190a755060010e2bdf006508786p7 505 614 112624 fc VMKcore
/dev/disks/naa.60022190a755060010e2bdf006508786p8 615 900 292848 6 FAT16
/dev/disks/naa.60022190a755060010e2bdf006508786p2 is the /var/tmp/cache partition

To resolve this issue, run the dosfsck check command on this partition. For example:

dosfsck -vn /dev/disks/naa.60022190a755060010e2bdf006508786p2

Note: naa.60022190a755060010e2bdf006508786p2 is an example of what the path could be. The partition is different on your host.

The output is similar to:

dosfsck 2.11 (12 Mar 2005)
dosfsck 2.11, 12 Mar 2005, FAT32, LFN
Checking we can access the last sector of the filesystem
Boot sector contents:
System ID "MSDOS5.0"
Media byte 0xf8 (hard disk)
512 bytes per logical sector
65536 bytes per cluster
2 reserved sectors
First FAT starts at byte 1024 (sector 2)
2 FATs, 16 bit entries
131072 bytes per FAT (= 256 sectors)
Root directory starts at byte 263168 (sector 514)
224 root directory entries
Data area starts at byte 270336 (sector 528)
65515 data clusters (4293591040 bytes)
18 sectors/track, 2 heads
0 hidden sectors
8386560 sectors total
/var/tmp/cache/deb_EESX40-MMODE-03_1.0-1.vib and
/var/tmp/cache/deb_EESX40-MMODE-04_1.0-1.vib
share clusters.
Truncating second to 0 bytes.
/var/tmp/cache/deb_EESX40-MMODE-04_1.0-1.vib
File size is 4048 bytes, cluster chain length is 0 bytes.
Truncating file to 0 bytes.
Checking for unused clusters.
Leaving file system unchanged

/dev/disks/naa.60022190a755060010e2bdf006508786p2 275 files, 454/65515 clusters

Additional Information

For information on how to create a scratch partition, see Creating a persistent scratch location for ESXi (1033696).Creating a persistent scratch location for ESXi 4.x/5.x/6.x