Host profile compliance fails with error:"Host does not appear to be booted into a stateful envrionment"

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

• After converting the  Host from stateless to stateful, the host profile compliance check fails with error

• /var/log/syslog.log reports below error

YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ In(14) hostprofile[2105057] opID=4e9a35b9-WorkQueue-725551e3-95-b62e: CheckHostCompliance result: (vim.profile.ComplianceResult) {
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ In(14)[+] hostprofile[2105057]    dynamicType = <unset>,
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ In(14)[+] hostprofile[2105057]    dynamicProperty = (vmodl.DynamicProperty) [],
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ In(14)[+] hostprofile[2105057]    profile = <unset>,
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ In(14)[+] hostprofile[2105057]    complianceStatus = 'nonCompliant',
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ In(14)[+] hostprofile[2105057]    entity = 'vim.HostSystem:ha-host',
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ In(14)[+] hostprofile[2105057]    checkTime = <unset>,
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ In(14)[+] hostprofile[2105057]    failure = (vim.profile.ComplianceResult.ComplianceFailure) [
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ In(14)[+] hostprofile[2105057]       (vim.profile.ComplianceResult.ComplianceFailure) {
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ In(14)[+] hostprofile[2105057]          dynamicType = <unset>,
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ In(14)[+] hostprofile[2105057]          dynamicProperty = (vmodl.DynamicProperty) [],
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ In(14)[+] hostprofile[2105057]          failureType = 'com.vmware.vim.profile.caching.stateful.install.esx.not.found',
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ In(14)[+] hostprofile[2105057]          message = (LocalizableMessageWithPath) {
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ In(14)[+] hostprofile[2105057]             dynamicType = <unset>,
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ In(14)[+] hostprofile[2105057]             dynamicProperty = (vmodl.DynamicProperty) [],
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ In(14)[+] hostprofile[2105057]             key = 'com.vmware.vim.profile.caching.stateful.install.esx.not.found',
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ In(14)[+] hostprofile[2105057]             arg = (vmodl.KeyAnyValue) [],
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ In(14)[+] hostprofile[2105057]             message = 'Host does not appear to be booted into a stateful environment.'
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ In(14)[+] hostprofile[2105057]          },
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ In(14)[+] hostprofile[2105057]          expressionName = 'systemCache_caching_CachingProfile-ProfExpression',
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ In(14)[+] hostprofile[2105057]          failureValues = <unset>
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ In(14)[+] hostprofile[2105057]       }
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ In(14)[+] hostprofile[2105057]    ]
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ In(14)[+] hostprofile[2105057] }
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ Wa(28) sfcb-vmw_ipmi[2100517] load_v6_addresses: Ignore BMC V6 IP addr 56, not active, state=1
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ Wa(28) sfcb-vmw_ipmi[2100517] load_v6_addresses: Ignore BMC V6 IP addr 59, not active, state=1
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ Wa(28) sfcb-vmw_ipmi[2100517] load_v6_addresses: Ignore BMC V6 IP addr 56, not active, state=1
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ Wa(28) sfcb-vmw_ipmi[2100517] load_v6_addresses: Ignore BMC V6 IP addr 59, not active, state=1
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ In(14) support-util[2105158] Execution attempted with the binary: esxcfg-advcfg
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZIn(14) ImageConfigManager[2105164] MainThread: Installer <class 'vmware.esximage.Installer.BootBankInstaller.BootBankInstaller'> was not initiated - reason: altbootbank is invalid: Error in loading boot.cfg fro
m bootbank /bootbank: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '/bootbank/boot.cfg'


The host profile has caching settings:

      <propertyName>systemCache_caching_CachingProfile</propertyName>
      <array>false</array>
      <profile>
        <enabled>true</enabled>
        <policy>
          <id>systemCache.caching.CachingPolicy</id>
          <policyOption>
            <id>systemCache.caching.StatefulOption</id>
            <parameter>
              <key>firstDisk</key>
              <value xsi:type="xsd:string">localesx,local</value>
            </parameter>
            <parameter>
              <key>overwriteVmfs</key>
              <value xsi:type="xsd:boolean">true</value>
            </parameter>
            <parameter>
              <key>ignoreSsd</key>
              <value xsi:type="xsd:boolean">false</value>
            </parameter>
          </policyOption>

Environment

Esxi 8.0.3

Cause

This issue occurs when the overwriteVmfs setting is configured to true, resulting in a failure of caching

Resolution

To resolve this issue, you can use one of the following options depending on your environment feasibility:

Option 1:
Modify the host profile by setting the overwriteVmfs parameter to false, and then retry the operation.

Option 2:
Remove the problematic VMFS partition before proceeding:

• Delete the VMFS partition using the partedUtil Example:

·       partedUtil delete "/vmfs/devices/disks/<DeviceName>" <PartitionNumber> 

For detailed guidance, refer to Using partedUtil command line disk partitioning utility on ESXi and ESX (323144).

• Alternatively, erase the VMFS partition by following the official documentation:
  Erase ESXi storage devices.