After upgrading to ESXI 7.0 update 2 , the reboot process is Extremely slow boot.

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• Can see that the plugin system-storage taking a large amount of time for example 50 min  in the boot log 

grep Jumpstart boot /var/log/boot 
<snippet>
2021-06-03T20:18:05.317Z cpu25:2097758)Activating Jumpstart plugin system-storage.
2021-06-03T20:18:05.317Z cpu16:2097771)Activating Jumpstart plugin vsan-devel.
2021-06-03T20:18:05.669Z cpu16:2097771)Jumpstart plugin vsan-devel activated.
2021-06-03T21:25:10.645Z cpu25:2097758)Jumpstart plugin system-storage activated.
<snippet>

• In the jumpstart locaated here /var/log/jumpstart-native-stdout.log,would see the below message constantly, which is the altbootbank partition 

 /vmfs/volumes/8673fa9f-ad4af6b1-c196-cbb58157c176/boot.cfg:No such file or directory

• Checking the altbootbank partition the boot.cfg is missing 

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0.0

Cause

lf the  boot.cfg is missing from the partition altbootbank this can cause a prolonged boot process

Resolution

This issue is resolved in VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0 U2c. To download go to the My Downloads - VMware Cloud Foundation page

Workaround:

Please note: to avoid this issue from occurring you can complete a two-step upgrade ESXi 6.7 to ESXi 7.0GA and patching it to ESXi 70u2, otherwise complete the below steps.    

1. Copy boot.cfg from the bootbank location to altbootbank                                                  cp /bootbank/boot.cfg /altbootbank/boot.cfg
2. Need to change the bootstate  in the /altbootbank/boot.cfg, normally speaking this would from 0  (/bootbank/boot.cfg) to 3 (/altbootbank/boot.cfg)

bootstate=3                                            <<<=== bootstate changed to 3
title=
timeout=5
prefix=
kernel=b.b00
kernelopt=installerDiskDumpSlotSize=2560 no-auto-partition
modules=jumpstrt.gz --- useropts.gz --- features.gz --- k.b00 --- uc_intel.b00 --- uc_amd.b00 --- uc_hygon.b00 --- procfs.b00 --- vmx.v00 --- vim.v00 --- tpm.v00 --- sb.v00 --- s.v00 --- atlantic.v00 --- bnxtnet.v00 --- bnxtroce.v00 --- brcmfcoe.v00 --- brcmnvme.v00 --- elxiscsi.v00 --- elxnet.v00 --- i40enu.v00 --- iavmd.v00 --- icen.v00 --- igbn.v00 --- irdman.v00 --- iser.v00 --- ixgben.v00 --- lpfc.v00 --- lpnic.v00 --- lsi_mr3.v00 --- lsi_msgp.v00 --- lsi_msgp.v01 --- lsi_msgp.v02 --- mtip32xx.v00 --- ne1000.v00 --- nenic.v00 --- nfnic.v00 --- nhpsa.v00 --- nmlx4_co.v00 --- nmlx4_en.v00 --- nmlx4_rd.v00 --- nmlx5_co.v00 --- nmlx5_rd.v00 --- ntg3.v00 --- nvme_pci.v00 --- nvmerdma.v00 --- nvmxnet3.v00 --- nvmxnet3.v01 --- pvscsi.v00 --- qcnic.v00 --- qedentv.v00 --- qedrntv.v00 --- qfle3.v00 --- qfle3f.v00 --- qfle3i.v00 --- qflge.v00 --- rste.v00 --- sfvmk.v00 --- smartpqi.v00 --- vmkata.v00 --- vmkfcoe.v00 --- vmkusb.v00 --- vmw_ahci.v00 --- clusters.v00 --- crx.v00 --- elx_esx_.v00 --- btldr.v00 --- esx_dvfi.v00 --- esx_ui.v00 --- esxupdt.v00 --- tpmesxup.v00 --- weaselin.v00 --- loadesx.v00 --- lsuv2_hp.v00 --- lsuv2_in.v00 --- lsuv2_ls.v00 --- lsuv2_nv.v00 --- lsuv2_oe.v00 --- lsuv2_oe.v01 --- lsuv2_oe.v02 --- lsuv2_sm.v00 --- native_m.v00 --- qlnative.v00 --- vdfs.v00 --- vmware_e.v00 --- vsan.v00 --- vsanheal.v00 --- vsanmgmt.v00 --- xorg.v00 --- gc.v00 --- imgdb.tgz --- state.tgz
build=7.0.2-0.10.18000000
updated=2
 

• Now the host can be rebooted for the changes to take effect