An I/O filter might fail to uninstall due to file system errors on the altbootbank partition

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Typically, if the altbootbank partition causes the failures, you see the following symptoms:

• The vpxd.log file contains an entry similar to the following:

  com.vmware.vim.vpxd.iofilter.FilterModificationOnHostFailed

• In the /var/log/vmware/eam/eam.log file or the C:\ProgramData\VMware\vCenterServer\logs\eam\eam.log file for the ESX Agent Manager (EAM), you see entries similar to:

  eam.issue.VibNotInstalled {
  time = 2016-03-06 03:45:07,966,
  description = '<error errorClass="InstallationError">
  <errorCode>15</errorCode>
  <errorDesc>The installation transaction failed.</errorDesc>
  <vibs></vibs>
  <msg>There was an error checking file system on altbootbank, please see log for detail.</msg>
  </error>',
  key = 10,
  agency = 'Agency:18baf7fd-515b-47cf-b7cb-f3de281a6b41:null',
  solutionId = 'VirtualCenter',
  agencyName = 'IoFilter-VMKQE_bootbank_vmwqefiltcache',
  solutionName = 'VirtualCenter',
  agent = 'Agent:6b0fb611-de62-4cf8-a23d-8542ea7cf473:null',
  agentName = '6b0fb611-de62-4cf8-a23d-8542ea7cf473',
  host = 'HostSystem:host-15:4a6c5514-4485-431d-8f8b-836a0613097d',
  hostName = '10.162.106.219',
  }

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 6.5.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.5

Resolution

To resolve the problem, repair the altbootbank partition.

1. Run this command to determine the device for /altbootbank:

   vmkfstools -P /altbootbank

   You see output similar to:

   mpx.vmhba32:C0:T0:L0:5

2. Run this command to repair the altbootbank filesystem:

   dosfsck -a -w /dev/disks/device_name

   For example:

   dosfsck -a -w /dev/disks/mpx.vmhba32:C0:T0:L0:5

3. If remediation fails at this stage, reboot the host.