ESXi hosts in a vSAN Cluster fail during/after an upgrade

Products

• VMware vSAN
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

A PSOD with the following trace is observed at the time or after an upgrade is performed on ESXi hosts that are part of a vSAN cluster.

Environment

vSAN 8.0.2
vSAN 8.0.3

ESXi 8.0.2
ESXi 8.0.3

Cause

This issue is known to occur sporadically and Broadcom Engineering is aware and currently investigating it.

Backtrace includes the following:
PanicvPanicInt@vmkernel
Panic_vPanic@vmkernel
vmk_PanicWithModuleID@vmkernel
SSDLOGFreeLogInt@LSOMCommon
SSDLOG_FreeLogEntry@LSOMCommon
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
vmkWorldFunc@vmkernel
CpuSched_StartWorld@vmkernel
Debug_IsInitialized@vmkernel
Failed at bora/modules/vmkernel/lsomcommon/ssdlog/ssdopslog.c:735 -- NOT REACHED

Resolution

If you've encountered this issue, take the following steps:

1. Enable the plogGlobalTracing advanced parameter on the remaining ESXi hosts and complete the upgrade:
   esxcfg-advcfg -s 1 /VSAN/plogGlobalTracing
2. Its expected for the upgrade to complete once the host is manually rebooted. Once the upgrade is complete, disable the plogGlobalTracing parameter by running the following command:
   esxcfg-advcfg -s 1 /VSAN/plogGlobalTracing
3. If any of the ESXi hosts have crashed while the parameter was enabled, export a log bundle of the ESXi and engage Broadcom Support for further assistance.