Troubleshooting ESXi hosts

May 11, 2020 , actsupp-r0cks
Troubleshooting-ESXi-hosts

When you have issues with ESXi hosts, it will affect your VMs as well, so let’s check the common ESXi hosts issues you could be facing.

In this guide you can find the complete troubleshooting details needed for installation, how to monitor the health of your ESXi host, and how to export diagnostic information required. So let’s get started.

Identifying General ESXi Host Troubleshooting Guidelines

Identifying General ESXi Host Troubleshooting Guidelines

vSphere is unique for everyone but there are few guidelines that you can follow effectively to troubleshoot your ESXi host. Follow the below general troubleshooting guidelines for ESXi:

To enable TSM from the DCUI

  1. Connect the DCUI of your ESXi host.
  2. Click F2 and type the username and password and click Enter to proceed.
  3. Select Troubleshooting Options.
  4. Click Enable ESXi shell and then Enter. The panel will show that ESXi Shell is enabled.
  5. Now, select the Enable SSH and click Enter to enable remote TSM via SSH, then click Enter and check the panel to confirm the changes.
  6. Configure the timeout section to ensure security. To activate the timeout, Click Modify ESXi Shell Timeout and add the desired time value. (Optional)
  7. To return to the main DCUI screen, Click Esc three times.

Check the below steps to enable TSM from the security profile of your Vsphereclient:

To Configure TSM from the vSphereClient

  1. Sign in to your vSphere Web Client and select the Hosts and Clusters.
  2. Click the host to configure TSM and check the Summary tab (if necessary).       

 Note: Ensure SSH and the ESXi shell are enabled.

  • Now, click the Manage tab>Setting tab >Security Profile. Select the Services and check that the services of SSH and ESXi Shell are listed. Then, choose Edit>ESXi Shell and enter Stop.
  • Select SSH, enter Stop, and click Ok.
  • Click the Summary tab and check the warnings.

The 3 Common Installation Issues:

  • Troubleshoot the Boot Order

You can reconfigure the BIOS settings while installing ESXi, either from the BIOS or the from the selection menu.

If you are changing the boot order in the BIOS, then remember that it will also affect all subsequent boots.

Whereas if you are changing using the selection menu, then it will only affect the current boot.

  • Troubleshoot the License Assignment

If you find it difficult to install the key on to a host with larger capacity then, you need to obtain and assign an appropriate key with a larger capacity.

Try upgrading your License and Disable the uncovered features of the key that you are trying to assign.

  • Troubleshoot the Plug-Ins

If your Plugins are not working, then check whether the plugins that run on the Tomcat server have .xml files with URL of the application that the plug-in can access.

Check whether your vCenter Server and vSphere Client are on the same domain.

Check if the hostname of the plug-in server is changed or not, if so you can change the hostname in the extension file with the plug-in server IP address.

Monitor ESXi hosts system health

The ESX host health monitoring tool allows you to monitor the health of various hardware components such as CPU, Memory, Fans, Temperature, Voltage, Power, Network, Battery, Software, Watchdog, and so on. It will also gather data by using Systems Management Architecture for Server Hardware (SMASH) profiles.

Viewing health while connected to a host

In the configuration tab, the Host health status section will show you the status of the hardware within the host. Normally, if everything is working well you will see a green icon. When the performance or functions are degraded the status will turn to yellow icon and the red indicates that the component has stopped.

Viewing data via vCenter

While you are connected with vCenter, you can also monitor the same hardware by selecting the Host>Monitor>Hardware status.

Note: Ensure that the hardware status plug-in is enabled.

Few Filters in this tab are: Sensors which display hardware sensors in a tree view, Alerts and Warnings filter will display only alerts and warnings, and System Event Log will show the system event log. Reset Sensors are used to reset the accumulated data over time.

Export diagnostic information

There are a few different ways to capture diagnostic information and develop log bundles within the vSphere client. To gather the diagnostic data follow the below steps.

  1. Log on to your account and select the host, cluster, or datacenter in the inventory.
  2. Click the File>Export>Export System Logs.
  3. Determine the host you want to add in the log bundle and check whether vCenter and Web Client logs need to be added.
  4. Select gather performance data and click Generate Log Bundle.
  5. Click the Download Log Bundle and prefer the download destination for your logs.
  6. Review your logs at the download destination.

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Also check – Troubleshoot the most common ESXi Booting Issues Now!

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Written by actsupp-r0cks