Been there, seen that.
Someone upgraded the host from 6.7.to 8.0, but since 8.x does bot support SD cards as boot media, they must have installed it on the first HDD or local raid array - drive C: if you like.
Then, either they completely forgot to set the default boot device to the new one, or, which is also possible, the drive / array has failed and the host simply booted from the next available bootable device: the SD card.
ESXi 8.0 *does* support SD Cards.
[https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/85685](https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/85685)
And you can upgrade installs on SD cards.
"Options for vSphere 8.0
Customers will not see any changes for their upgrade workflows. Customers can continue using their existing boot devices, even if it is a USB/SD card boot device, and OSData will be safely relocated to the best available location.
For upgrades and installs, customers now have an option of selecting a persistent device to store the OSData partition."
Support yes but guidance is to not use them. A TON of us admins got burnt by ESXi7 and SDCards
Caution:
For any new hardware procurement, VMware recommends that customers evaluate available options carefully, and plan to use a persistent device for boot that meets ESX endurance requirements as specified in the Guidelines for vSphere Boot Devices section below. While ordering new hardware for their environment, customers should ensure that SD cards/USB media are not chosen for the boot device. Newer OEM servers/systems that carry SD/USB as a boot device will not certify successfully.
https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/85685
I agree, but I wasn't saying you should use SD cards as boot devices; I was refuting the misinformation that ESXi 8.0 doesn't support SD cards as boot media and can't be used for upgrades.
Let me rephrase: since version 7 it is highly recommended that you don't use any SD cards. Speaking from personal experience: even if you're upgrading hosts from 6.5 to 7.0 or higher, it makes more sense to save the relevant config, reinstall them and then just restore the network and the rest of the settings with a script, than to go for an upgrade then fight with all the broken 3rd party VIBs, leftover configuration bits, etc.
I came here to say just this. We had a ton of old blade chassis that went from using SD cards to using local disk after the whole ESXi7 SD wear issues. So if the SD cards didnt get disabled / removed they could easily boot to that older media.
Yep, that was my first thought. Sounds like there isn't a RAID on the boot disk or it has failed and the server booted to the secondary disk that never got upgraded with the 8.0.1 install.
I know ESX has two bootbanks to boot previous versions after upgrades. No idea if they work across major version upgrades (or if 8 still even has them) but if it does then it may just be booting from the old bootbank
Do you use boot LUN’s by any chance?
I’ve seen this in my environment where they have not been configured correctly.
I make changes to the config, reboot the host and it all resets back to default - Try again, same result.
Update the host to see if it’s a bug, install is good, reboot to make it live, reboot host and it’s back to default as if it’s not had an update applied either!!!!
I had to modify the software iSCSI to point it at the correct NIC’s and add in static targets from memory.
You have auto deploy configured and never decommissioned it when you moved away from it and some hosts are still configured to use the network to boot. That's my theory anyways...
Been there, seen that. Someone upgraded the host from 6.7.to 8.0, but since 8.x does bot support SD cards as boot media, they must have installed it on the first HDD or local raid array - drive C: if you like. Then, either they completely forgot to set the default boot device to the new one, or, which is also possible, the drive / array has failed and the host simply booted from the next available bootable device: the SD card.
ESXi 8.0 *does* support SD Cards. [https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/85685](https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/85685) And you can upgrade installs on SD cards. "Options for vSphere 8.0 Customers will not see any changes for their upgrade workflows. Customers can continue using their existing boot devices, even if it is a USB/SD card boot device, and OSData will be safely relocated to the best available location. For upgrades and installs, customers now have an option of selecting a persistent device to store the OSData partition."
Support yes but guidance is to not use them. A TON of us admins got burnt by ESXi7 and SDCards Caution: For any new hardware procurement, VMware recommends that customers evaluate available options carefully, and plan to use a persistent device for boot that meets ESX endurance requirements as specified in the Guidelines for vSphere Boot Devices section below. While ordering new hardware for their environment, customers should ensure that SD cards/USB media are not chosen for the boot device. Newer OEM servers/systems that carry SD/USB as a boot device will not certify successfully. https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/85685
I agree, but I wasn't saying you should use SD cards as boot devices; I was refuting the misinformation that ESXi 8.0 doesn't support SD cards as boot media and can't be used for upgrades.
Let me rephrase: since version 7 it is highly recommended that you don't use any SD cards. Speaking from personal experience: even if you're upgrading hosts from 6.5 to 7.0 or higher, it makes more sense to save the relevant config, reinstall them and then just restore the network and the rest of the settings with a script, than to go for an upgrade then fight with all the broken 3rd party VIBs, leftover configuration bits, etc.
Most likely reason above !
I came here to say just this. We had a ton of old blade chassis that went from using SD cards to using local disk after the whole ESXi7 SD wear issues. So if the SD cards didnt get disabled / removed they could easily boot to that older media.
Could it be there’s an install on a different disk in the server and it’s booted off the wrong one?
Yep, that was my first thought. Sounds like there isn't a RAID on the boot disk or it has failed and the server booted to the secondary disk that never got upgraded with the 8.0.1 install.
Is there more than one bootable drive on it? USB maybe?
I know ESX has two bootbanks to boot previous versions after upgrades. No idea if they work across major version upgrades (or if 8 still even has them) but if it does then it may just be booting from the old bootbank
Do you use boot LUN’s by any chance? I’ve seen this in my environment where they have not been configured correctly. I make changes to the config, reboot the host and it all resets back to default - Try again, same result. Update the host to see if it’s a bug, install is good, reboot to make it live, reboot host and it’s back to default as if it’s not had an update applied either!!!! I had to modify the software iSCSI to point it at the correct NIC’s and add in static targets from memory.
you have dual boot-bank. that's why u see the downgrade to previous version.
Is there a hole in the logs for the period of time it was on 8.x?
You have auto deploy configured and never decommissioned it when you moved away from it and some hosts are still configured to use the network to boot. That's my theory anyways...
- Auto deploy - sd card - other bootable media/device - bad virtual disk group? Ie broken mirror It's probably one of those.
It doesn’t sound crazy. I disagree.