Restart ESXi from remote while having a PSOD

Question

I wondered if it is possible to access some functions of a ESXi Server over the network, while the server has a PSOD. The Server is running ESXi 5.1.

The server cannot be pinged, but is there some kind of network debug function?

score 6 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:13

6

You can debug from the console and generate a crash dump.

Ideally, you have some sort of out-of-band management of your physical ESXi host like IPMI, DRAC or ILO. If not, you should :)

Otherwise, you would need to physically be in front of the system to get out of your PSOD state.

In general, VMware should not PSOD. There have been some specific and dangerous issues that impacted certain builds of ESXi, but most VMware issues can be traced back to a need for updates/patching.

Can you provide more detail on your real issue? Version and build of ESXi, hardware, etc.

edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:13

Community

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answered Apr 24 '15 at 16:23

ewwhite

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How do I see if any OOB management is present? It is an Intel S5000PAL – mario.schlipf Apr 24 '15 at 16:34
There's nothing that can help your existing situation unless the IPMI on this Intel system board is present and configured. – ewwhite Apr 24 '15 at 16:41

score 4 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 24 '15 at 16:22

4

You'll need to use the server's out of band management interface (IPMI, iDRAC, ILO, etc.) to reboot the server.

answered Apr 24 '15 at 16:22

Michael Hampton

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score 4 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 24 '15 at 16:23

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is there some kind of network debug function?

No - you need to iLO/DRAC/send-someone to restart the machine.

answered Apr 24 '15 at 16:23

Chopper3

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Restart ESXi from remote while having a PSOD

3 Answers3