I don’t have to tell you how critical is to
monitor the hardware health of your ESXi hosts, right ?!
To avoid any disruption of services and be
able to, proactive, remediate any situation before it get’s ugly, will depend
on the visibility level of the host’s components.
I remember the old days, when to monitor
the hardware health of your host you would just install an agent on the host.
Yes, these days are gone, with ESXi there’s
no more console, so no more agents running on top of it.
But, VMware did not let’s down, they had
provided a new way of monitoring our hosts. It’s based on CIM (CommonInformation Model), that way you can monitor your host directly from vCenter or
vSphere Client through the Hardware Status tab.
If you are using the vSphere installer
provided by vendors like, IBM, HP, Dell, you should be good to go. Those images
(ISO) already comes with the CIM providers from its respective vendors.
Now, if you are using the VMware images
(ISO), they contain just the basic providers and in some cases it cannot
identify all the hardware and components that might be installed on your
host, also not providing the correct reporting
of failures and status that you need.
On the picture bellow, despite the fact I
can see several components, there’s no data about my internal disks and
controllers (storage item)
In this case, I know that the HP Proliant has
a SmartArray controller.
I would like to have the visibility of it
and their disks.
After installing the HP ESXi offiline
Bundle I could finally accomplish that.
Do you see the difference now ?!?
So, it’s
simple as this, you can just install the CIM Providers related to your hardware
model and version and those components will appear on the Hardware Status tab.
There’s a few ways to install the CIM
Providers.
DCUI
/ Remote Shell
It’s the recommended method if you need to
update just one or two hosts.
- copy the vib to a location where the host
has access
- log into the host
- put it on maintenance mode
- run: esxcli software
vib install -d path_to_bundle.zip
- Reboot the host
- exit maintenance mode
Now if you have more hosts to update and do
not have UpdateManager, you can use PowerCLI to automatize that.
- run: esxcli -s SERVERNAME -u root
-p password software vib install –d path_to_bundle.zip
obs: you can use a file as a source for
hostnames
Update
Manager
That’s my preferred method.
It’s the perfect tool for the job when you
have several hosts to update, also if it will be a reoccurring task.
- Once you download the CIM provider from
the vendor website, you must add it to the Update Manager database, it will be
considered as a patch.
- Next step is to create a baseline that
contains this new patch.
- attach the baseline to your datacenter or
cluster.
Now, just scan and remediate your hosts, the
same way you do for your regular ESXi patching activities.
One thing I realized during my tests is, if
you have installed the vanilla ESXi version (provided by VMware), it might not
identify that your host need this patch, not allowing you to install it. If
that occurs use one of the other methods above.
But, if you installed with a vendors
version, and the CIM Provider will download is newer, then it identifies as a
patch needed and let you update through Update Manager,
wow, great way of updating your CIM
Providers !!!
Good patching.
