SD Card Boot issue Solution in ESXi 7.x

The host goes into an un-responsive state due to: “Bootbank cannot be found at path ‘/bootbank” and device is in an APD state.

This issue is seen due to the boot device failing to respond & enter APD state (All paths down). Some cases, Host goes to non-responsive state & shows from .

As of 7.0 1, the format of the -OSData boot data partition has been changed. Instead of using FAT it is using a new format called VMFS-L. This new format allows much more and faster I/O to the partition. The level of read and write traffic is overwhelming and corrupting many less capable cards.

The action plan for future resolution would be to replace the SD card/s with a capable device/disk. Per the best practices mentioned on Installation guide.

The 7.0 Update VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Guide, page 19, specifically says “As even read-only workloads can cause problems on low-end flash devices, you should install only on “.

https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/7.0/vsphere-esxi-702-installation-setup-guide.pdf

You can also refer to the below KB:

Reference: https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/83376?lang=en_US

Resolution

engineering has a fix that will be in the next release.  Planned for July 2021.

https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/SD-Boot-issue-Solution-in-7-x/m-p/2852027

https://www.provirtualzone.com/vsphere-7-update-2-loses-connection-with-sd-cards-workaround/

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