FIX : HP ESXi 5.x Management Bundles

HP have just released updated VIB’s to address the bug in the Feb2013 release of the ESXi management bundles.

Download both ZIP files and import them into your VUM repository for deployment;

Remediate using VUM;

VUM-HP-VIB-April-2013

A quick check before deploying the updates confirms your current versions;


~ # esxcli software vib list | grep hp

Name                  Version                             Vendor           Acceptance Level  Install Date
--------------------  ----------------------------------  ---------------  ----------------  ------------
char-hpcru            5.0.3.09-1OEM.500.0.0.434156        Hewlett-Packard  PartnerSupported  2012-11-13
char-hpilo            500.9.0.0.9-1OEM.500.0.0.434156     Hewlett-Packard  PartnerSupported  2012-04-11
hp-ams                500.9.2.0-11.434156                 Hewlett-Packard  PartnerSupported  2013-03-25
hp-smx-provider       500.03.01.10.2-434156               Hewlett-Packard  VMwareAccepted    2013-03-25
hpacucli              9.20-9.0                            Hewlett-Packard  PartnerSupported  2013-03-25
hpbootcfg             01-01.02                            Hewlett-Packard  PartnerSupported  2013-03-25
hponcfg               04-00.10                            Hewlett-Packard  PartnerSupported  2013-03-25
hpnmi                 2.0.11-434156                       hp               PartnerSupported  2012-04-11

After remediation;

You can see that two packages have been updated;


~ # esxcli software vib list | grep hp

Name                  Version                             Vendor           Acceptance Level  Install Date
--------------------  ----------------------------------  ---------------  ----------------  ------------
char-hpcru            5.0.3.09-1OEM.500.0.0.434156        Hewlett-Packard  PartnerSupported  2012-11-13
char-hpilo            500.9.0.0.9-1OEM.500.0.0.434156     Hewlett-Packard  PartnerSupported  2012-04-11
hp-ams                500.9.3.5-02.434156                 Hewlett-Packard  PartnerSupported  2013-04-16
hp-smx-provider       500.03.02.10.4-434156               Hewlett-Packard  VMwareAccepted    2013-04-16
hpacucli              9.20-9.0                            Hewlett-Packard  PartnerSupported  2013-03-25
hpbootcfg             01-01.02                            Hewlett-Packard  PartnerSupported  2013-03-25
hponcfg               04-00.10                            Hewlett-Packard  PartnerSupported  2013-03-25
hpnmi                 2.0.11-434156                       hp               PartnerSupported  2012-04-11

Now looking at the hardware status tab, you can see that the this update correctly addresses the bug – no hardware warning for the array controller.

Hardware-Status

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Author: Jon Munday

An independent IT contractor with a strong focus on VMware virtualisation and infrastructure operations. I am inspired by technology, not afraid to question the status quo and balance my professional commitments with entertaining my three awesome kids (Ashton, Oliver and Lara).

12 thoughts on “FIX : HP ESXi 5.x Management Bundles”

  1. Thanks for the recommendation and the new bundles.
    It has resolved the warning on the HP smart array P410 controller. But the following error, when starting a VM (WinXP), which was set up and ran well before Upgrading to ESXi 5.1, still appears every time:
    vmWare knowledge base: http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=2036572
    Powering on a virtual machine after upgrading to ESXi 5.1 fails with the error:
    File [VMFS volume] VM-name/VM-name.vmdk was not found (2036572)
    Does anybody know more about this issue? the proposed workaround, converting all vmdk files to flat, is quite poor, has just blown up the size of my vmdk by factor 7..8, but not resolved the problem.

    Appreciate other experiences with that problem, thank you for any help in advance.

    1. ***download update bundles from HP vibs depot

      http://vibsdepot.hp.com/hpq/apr2013/esxi-5x-bundles/

      *** create a folder in a datastore named “updates” upload bundle files from hp site to this folder

      *** shut down all virtual machines

      *** enable Shell and SSH on host if necessary

      F2 > troubleshoot options

      Enable ESXi Shell

      Enable SSH

      *** SSH to root@host

      *** enter maintenance mode

      # vim-cmd hostsvc/maintenance_mode_enter

      *** change to updates folder and get datastore ID

      # cd /vmfs/volumes/datastore1/updates (datastore where bundles were loaded)

      /vmfs/volumes/50355184-32ee9e98-1eea-ac162d73d0a4/updates #

      *** list and verify contents

      /vmfs/volumes/50355184-32ee9e98-1eea-ac162d73d0a4/updates # ls
      hp-ams-esxi5.0-bundle-9.3.5-3.zip hp-esxi5.0uX-bundle-1.4.5-3.zip

      *** update patch on host (for .zip use –depot switch, for .vib use –v switch, use datastore ID in path)

      # esxcli software vib update –depot /vmfs/volumes/50355184-32ee9e98-1eea-ac162d73d0a4/hp-ams-esxi5.0-bundle-9.3.5-3.zip

      # esxcli software vib update –depot /vmfs/volumes/50355184-32ee9e98-1eea-ac162d73d0a4/hp-esxi5.0uX-bundle-1.4.5-3.zip

      *** reboot

      # reboot

      *** after restart exit maintenance mode

      # vim-cmd hostsvc/maintenance_mode_exit

      ***delete updates folder

      /vmfs/volumes/50355184-32ee9e98-1eea-ac162d73d0a4 # rm -r updates

      *** restart virtual machines

  2. Hi,
    Thx for your nice blog.

    i have installed the latest HP Offline Bundle for my Lab-environment (HP 8200 Elite).
    I am having now more sensors available in the “hardware status”-tab in Vcenter.
    Until now there is no “storage” sensor available.
    Can i add any .vib to add storage in hardware-status so i can monitor the local-storage?

    Howto do this?

    Thx

    1. Hi,

      Thanks for the feedback. I assume you’ve checked the HCL to see that the HP 8200 Elite is not supported by VMware? I understand that it’s a lab environment, so this is probably not a big issue for you.

      Anyway, I suspect that your on-board SATA controller and disks are not recognised by the management agents in the same way that supported array controllers are, which is why you don’t see them on the hardware tabs.

      Unfortunately I don’t have one of these hardware models to test, but would suggest that you post this question in the VMware communities just in case someone already has a solution for this setup.

      For a lab setup though, I’m not sure you’ll get much benefit in monitoring this local storage but post it in the communities anyway, you never know if someone has already got this working in their own lab.

      Cheers,
      Jon

  3. Hi Jon,
    thx for the respond.
    I will put this on a VMWare-forum.

    Maybe there some options with importing vibs for sata-controllers?

    Thx

    1. Hi Kyle,

      No, I haven’t installed this updated VIB from HP. I am still running the following version;

      Name                  Version                             Vendor           Acceptance Level  Install Date
      --------------------  ----------------------------------  ---------------  ----------------  ------------
      scsi-hpsa             5.0.0-17vmw.500.0.0.469512          VMware           VMwareCertified   2012-03-26
      

      Looking at the enhancements though, I’m not sure that I will gain anything from this update;

      Added new controller support for Smart Array P822 and Smart Array P721m.

      Enabled Rapid Parity initialization support. New feature will keep newly created volumes offline until parity initialization is completed. Driver will periodocally check the device to see if it is ready, and bring it online when the process is complete. Driver will indicate if there are offline volumes in /proc info file and /var/log/vmkernel log files. Feature will be enabled by Smart Array firmware update.

      Cheers,
      Jon

  4. I could be wrong, but as I read it, HP docs suggest that you should only install the Management Agents which are relevant to your monitoring solution, not both as above. The following suggests that installing the AMS pack after the Managament Bundle has been installed will solely use AMS?

    Taken from the install instructions of the agentless management service:

    Installing HP ESXi 5.0 AMS Offline Bundle over HP ESXi 5.0 Management Offline Bundle or vice-versa

    If the HP Custom ISO or the HP Offline Management Bundle was installed, then no changes are required to use a solution based on Agentless Management vs the full HP Insight management WBEM Providers and visa-versa.

    The following procedure should be performed only if the HP Custom ISO or the HP Offline Management Bundle was installed and afterwards it is desirable to use a solution solely based on Agentless Management.

    Procedure:

    1.Install the HP ESXi 5.0 AMS Offline Bundle.
    The following procedure should be performed only if the AMS bundle was installed and afterwards it is desirable to use a solution based on the full HP Insight Management WBEM Providers.

    Procedure:

    1. Install the HP ESXi 5.0 Management Offline Bundle, that includes the full HP Insight Management WBEM Providers

    1. looking further at the packages, they look identical apart from:

      AMS contains:
      hp-smx-limited-500.03.02.10.3-434156

      Management Bundle contains:
      hp-smx-provider_500.03.02.10.4-434156

      They BOTH contain:
      char-hpilo-500.9.0.0.9-1OEM.500.0.0.434156
      char-hpcru_5.0.3.09-1OEM.500.0.0.434156
      hp-ams-esx-500.9.3.5-02.434156

      Therefore only apply the package relevant to your monitoring requirements?

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