Cisco HCX HyperFlex environment - Trying to upgrade ESXi hosts to 8.0 fail using Cisco’s automated process

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi 8.0
• VMware vCenter Server 8.0

Issue/Introduction

• During the process the hosts may experience storage APD (All Paths Down) events.
• VIBs do not remove and install properly during the process.

Cause

Cisco's HCX automated process/scripts to upgrade ESXi hosts to 8.0 fails.

Resolution

As this is a new issue for Cisco with vSphere 8.0, they do not yet have a KB article to provide, but are planning to create one.

• Please create a Cisco support case for current guidance. The below action plan was provided by Cisco support, but steps below could change.

  • Need to continue with ESXi upgrade via CLI commands, provided by Cisco.

  • Load the offline ESXi bundle and new Cisco VIBs onto the "OSDATA" volume

  • Remove the dependency VIBs

    • esxcli software vib remove --vibname=<insert_vib_name>

    • This will likely require a restart of the host

  • Upgrade the ESXi host using CLI profile images:

    • esxcli software profile update -p <profile_name> -d <location of ZIP file>

    • Reboot the host

  • If the VIB file is .zip format use the following command:

    • esxcli software vib install -d <full path to the zip file>

  • If the VIB file is .VIB format use the following command:

    • esxcli software vib install -v <full path  to vib file>