VMware ESXi 6.5, Patch ESXi650-201701401-BG: Updates esx-base, vsanhealth, vsan VIBs

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Release date: Feb 02, 2017

 

Patch Category	Bugfix
Patch Severity	Important
Build	For build information, see KB 2147869.
Host Reboot Required	Yes
Virtual Machine Migration or Shutdown Required	Yes
Affected Hardware	N/A
Affected Software	N/A
VIBs Included	VMware:esx-base:6.5.0-0.9.4887370 VMware:vsan:6.5.0-0.9.4887370 VMware_bootbank_esx-base_6.5.0-0.9.4887370
PRs Fixed	1784276
Related CVE numbers	NA

 

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 6.5

Resolution

Summaries and Symptoms

This patch updates the esx-base, vsan, and vsanhealth VIBs to resolve an issue where attempts to perform vMotion of VMs from earlier releases of ESXi to ESXi 6.5 might fail with a purple diagnostic screen with a stack trace similar to the following:

#GP Exception 13 in world XXXXXX:vmm3:XXXXXXXX @ 0xXXXXXXXXXXXX
xxxx-xx-xxTxx:xx:xx.xxxZ cpu16:XXXXXX)Backtrace for current CPU #16, worldID=XXXXXX, fp=0x0
xxxx-xx-xxTxx:xx:xx.xxxZ cpu16:XXXXXX)0xXXXXXXXXXXXX:[0xXXXXXXXXXXXX]VmAnon_AllocVmmPages@vmkernel#nover+0x3b stack: 0xXXXXXXXXX, 0xXXXXXXXXX, 0xXXXXXXXXXXXX, 0x6, 0xXXXXXXXXXXXX
xxxx-xx-xxTxx:xx:xx.xxxZ cpu16:XXXXXX)0xXXXXXXXXXXXX:[0xXXXXXXXXXXXX]VMMVMKCall_Call@vmkernel#nover+0x157 stack: 0xXXXXXXXXXXXX, 0xXXXXXXXXXXXX, 0xXXXXXXXXXXXX, 0xfffffffffc606d00, 0x0
xxxx-xx-xxTxx:xx:xx.xxxZ cpu16:XXXXXX)0xXXXXXXXXXXXX:[0xXXXXXXXXXXXX]VMKVMM_ArchEnterVMKernel@vmkernel#nover+0xe stack: 0x0, 0xfffffffffc4074b3, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0
xxxx-xx-xxTxx:xx:xx.xxxZ cpu16:XXXXXX)Panic: 623: Halting PCPU 16.
xxxx-xx-xxTxx:xx:xx.xxxZ cpu20:XXXXXX)Panic: 514: Panic from another CPU (cpu 20, world 187418): ip=0xXXXXXXXXXXXX randomOff=0x21c00000:

The issue occurs when the VM meets the following conditions:

• The VM was previously running on an earlier release of ESXi such as 5.5 or 6.0
• The VM is NUMA aware (with more than 8 vCPUs)
• The VM is configured with non-default vNUMA options (like coresPerSocket, numa.autosize.once = false etc.)

For more information, see KB 2147958.

 

Patch Download and Installation

The typical way to apply patches to ESXi hosts is through the VMware vSphere Update Manager. For details, see the Installing and Administering VMware vSphere Update Manager.

 

ESXi hosts can be updated by manually downloading the patch ZIP file from the VMware download page and installing the VIB by using the esxcli software vib command. Additionally, the system can be updated using the image profile and the esxcli software profile command. For details, see the vSphere Command-Line Interface Concepts and Examples and the vSphere Upgrade Guide.