OV4VC version 11.4 and OneView 8.6

[jlangmead]

Hi

I'm looking for confirmation that OV4VC 11.4 is supported with OneView 8.6 on Synergy. Having just updated to OneView 8.6 and with OV4VC 11.4 deployed I'm attempting to update the Synergy ESXi hosts to ESXi 8.0 U2 using the vLCM and the ESXi image, HPE customisation and SSP as detailed in this doc (Table 4) Valid-vLCM-Combos-Synergy.pdf (hpe.com)

All the pre-checks pass ok but the remediation fails at the first step of 'STAGE_UPDATE' for all hosts. This is retried several times by vLCM and eventuals returns a failure to remediate the cluster. Looking into iLO there is no firmware install set or items in the intstallation queue which leads us to believe this might be a communication issue between OV4VC and OneView.

We tested updating the firmware via OneView using iSUT and this worked fine - and OneView was able to state the firmware without any issues. We continued with updating the firmware on the cluster hosts outside of vLCM - just using OneView and iSUT.

This leads me to a second question - with all the host firmware updated via OneView as vLCM\OV4VC seemingly unable to autostage, is it feasible to configure the vLCM desired image without the firmware and drivers add-on and just include the VMware ESXi image and HPE customerisation? Will this then skip the need to autostage anything and allow the vLCM to apply the hypervisor updates only?

many thanks

[ChrisLynch]

Are these hosts within a vSphere Cluster, or standalone?

[jlangmead]

Thanks Chris

The hosts form a 4 node VMware cluster.

Prior to this activity, the VCSA was upgraded from 7.0 U3 to 8.0 U2 - would that have any relevence? Perhaps it's necessary to update certificates etc?

We did try removing and re-adding the VCSA but still saw the same behavior.

Many thanks

[ChrisLynch · Accepted solution]

Prior to this activity, the VCSA was upgraded from 7.0 U3 to 8.0 U2 - would that have any relevence?

I don't believe so.  I asked if these nodes are standalone as there have been issues with supporting standalone servers with vLCM.  Since they are part of a cluster, I would suggest you open a support case at this point.  You have the requirements met.  The fact that you can update firmware on the host natively via OneView online withou vLCM points to something else going on within the plugin and vCenter/vLCM.

[hchbnetadmin]

Did you end up getting a solution to this? We are encountering the same issue with the same setup (synergy cluster, going from 7.0U3 -> 8.0U2 with 2024.01.01 SSP)

[jlangmead]

Hiya

We didn't get it working - we ended up just continuing using iSUT for the firmware and driver updates.... which actually works pretty well. We then just run the ESXi update using the ESXi CLI and offline bundle - again pretty quick and straight forward as we only had 4 hosts. 

I like the concept of OV4VC - it just unfortunately doesn't work very well.

[SprinkleJames]

Same issue here, I think.

• Synergy OV 8.60.01
• vCenter 7.0U3p
• OV4VC 11.4
• 4x SY 480 Gen10 Plus in a cluster
  ...All newly installed.

vLCM Settings:

• ESXi Version: 7.0 U3o - 22348816
• Vendor Addon: HPE Synergy Server Customization 703.0.0.11.5.5-7
• Firmware and Drivers Addon: HPE Synergy Service Pack SY-2024.01.02.703
• Components: Nimble Connection Management 7.0.2

vLCM does not detect a Host Version of the SSP, so lists all hosts as out of compliance. This despite the SSP already having been applied to the hosts via OneView.

Here's what vLCM displays during attempts to remediate:

02/21/2024, 13:53:10:Skipping remediation of host '<host.fqdn>' due to potentially transient reasons. The operation will be automatically retried as per the cluster remediation delay and retry settings.
02/21/2024, 13:53:10:Hardware update action: 'STAGE_UPDATE' for host '<host.fqdn>' 'FAILED' on HSM 'HPE OneView for VMware vCenter'.
02/21/2024, 13:52:05:Started Hardware Update action: 'STAGE_UPDATE' for host '<host.fqdn>'.
02/21/2024, 13:52:05:Completed hardware update action: 'UPDATE_PRE_CHECK' for host '<host.fqdn>'.
02/21/2024, 13:51:30:Started Hardware Update action: 'UPDATE_PRE_CHECK' for host '<host.fqdn>'.
02/21/2024, 13:51:29:Starting remediation of the host '<host.fqdn>'
02/21/2024, 13:51:29:Completed getting host recommendation from DRS to enter maintenance mode for cluster '<Cluster-Name>'. Selected host: '<host.fqdn>'.
02/21/2024, 13:47:29:Started getting host recommendation from DRS to enter maintenance mode for cluster '<Cluster-Name>'.
02/21/2024, 13:47:29:Finished compliance check for cluster '<Cluster-Name>'
02/21/2024, 13:47:02:Started compliance check for cluster '<Cluster-Name>'
02/21/2024, 13:46:58:HA Admission Control (HAC) is disabled for cluster '<Cluster-Name>'

[pirx]

Wanna be brave and try this out:

My HPE Software Center

HPE OneView for VMware vCenter 11.5.0 Release Notes

Fixes

The following issues are fixed in HPE OneView for VMware vCenter 11.5.0 version:

• During the vLCM firmware update, the force installation is removed for HPE OneView managed servers in monitored mode.
• Increase in size limit for uploading the custom ESXi images to more than 700 MB.
• vLCM stage action failure for HPE Synergy server profile with local storage configuration.
• Updated security vulnerabilities.
• vLCM remediation failure when updating the ESXi image without the Firmware and Driver Addon.
• Enhanced validation for STAR file update.

[SprinkleJames]

Well, that was timely! Upgraded OV4VC to 11.5.0, and vLCM remediation succeeded.

[T_1_6]

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@jlangmead wrote:

Hiya

We didn't get it working - we ended up just continuing using iSUT for the firmware and driver updates..

I like the concept of OV4VC - it just unfortunately doesn't work very well

---

What we did.

vLCM and HPE is a broken mess.

I must have lost weeks and months messing around with it, multiply that by all the people in the world trying to get it working, probably a few million man hours utterly wasted.

[SprinkleJames]

Noticed today that OV4VC 11.5.0 is no longer available for download. There must've been some critical issue with it.

Edit: never mind. The link above still works. I just can't find it on the download center by searching.