Problem Summary
vNIOS appliance experience frequent resets
Customer Environment
vNIOS deployment
Versions
NIOS 7.x
NIOS 6.x
Cause
VMWARE running snapshot against the vNIOS appliance
NOTE: This is NOT the ONLY cause of vNIOS resets.
We recommend you eliminate this as your first step in troubleshooting
A VMWare snapshot will always cause a vNIOS reset and kernel core file because it stops the virtual disk, and it is the diskcheck that resets the VM and generates the core: core.vmcore.xxxxxxxx.txt and core.vmcore.xxxxxxx.txt
There is a VMWare KB on this issue.
Infoblox advises against taking VMWare snapshots.
Anything that stops the virtual disk - and that could include vSphere and vMotion VM migrations - will disrupt a number of vNIOS internal timers.
The diskcheck timer is the one most likely to be the first to show the impact of that disruption, by resetting the appliance (VM). However other timers could also expire before diskcheck does, leading to other unexpected situations.
Resolution
Disable the VMWare snapshots of vNIOS appliances to avoid the service interruptions.
The VMWare KB article:
http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=207922...
The article describes a nine-step process to modify the two files so as to prevent the snapshots from causing the VM to reboot.
Infoblox advises against taking VMWare snapshots.
Infoblox recommends that you configure your Infoblox Appliance to schedule a database backup against your Grid Manager.
This scheduled backup will include each of your Grid Members' databases.
While this is not the same as a VM snapshot, your VM configuration should not change daily.
However your actual vNIOS grid member may change daily.
