topic Re: virtual catalyst 9800 stuck on boot in Wireless

virtual catalyst 9800 stuck on boot

secElh — Thu, 15 May 2025 08:15:45 GMT

hi.. we've been having this issue for a while now, every time we try to deploy and OVA for a catalyst it works for a while then get stuck on this stage , no matter what version, those are the only vm's that are affected by this, we've tried on multiple storages

even switch to another esxi hosts, still the same thing, any ideas?

Re: virtual catalyst 9800 stuck on boot

Mark Elsen — Thu, 15 May 2025 10:32:06 GMT

- Check the md5sum of the VM-distribution you want to install (ISO, OVA....)

Re: virtual catalyst 9800 stuck on boot

Jens Albrecht — Thu, 15 May 2025 13:54:26 GMT

I heard about problems using the OVA for deployment from some coworkers.

Their solution is to use the ISO file instead and this worked just fine for them.

Re: virtual catalyst 9800 stuck on boot

secElh — Thu, 15 May 2025 14:09:13 GMT

you mean even if it actually worked?

Re: virtual catalyst 9800 stuck on boot

Mark Elsen — Thu, 15 May 2025 14:16:55 GMT

- @secElh If the VM can fully boot , then that message can be ignored

Re: virtual catalyst 9800 stuck on boot

secElh — Thu, 15 May 2025 14:18:39 GMT

the thing is, it can boot, operate as normal , but after a while it stops working and you see this.

Re: virtual catalyst 9800 stuck on boot

Mark Elsen — Thu, 15 May 2025 16:18:41 GMT

- @secElh >...the thing is, it can boot, operate as normal , but after a while it stops working and you see this.
What hypervisor environment (+ version) are you using ?

Re: virtual catalyst 9800 stuck on boot

Scott Fella — Thu, 15 May 2025 16:33:05 GMT

You need to check if something is happening on your VM infrastructure. Are these VM's being migrated to other resources or storage. If it works when you initially deploy it, you should document where the storage and resource that the controller is using and then compare that to when it breaks.

What ESXi version are you using? You can create rules to lock that 9800 to a specific storage and resource also. I have a bunch of 9800 and ISE instances at home and at work which I install using the OVA with no issues.

Re: virtual catalyst 9800 stuck on boot

secElh — Thu, 15 May 2025 17:50:30 GMT

what do you mean migrate? we have like 3 esxi's and i defintly know it stays on the same esxi, but i don't know about storage, never checked, i expect it to remain when i chose to deploy it.

Re: virtual catalyst 9800 stuck on boot

Mark Elsen — Thu, 15 May 2025 19:25:51 GMT

- @secElh You may want to check logs from your esx environment too, and look for insights ,

Re: virtual catalyst 9800 stuck on boot

Scott Fella — Thu, 15 May 2025 20:22:58 GMT

I don't know... if they are standalone ESXi host then yes, should not move. Ff they are managed from vCenter, then it is possible. Something is happening, either the hardware is being changed, some migration is happening, or other things in ESXi on your system is breaking the controller. What version of ESXi are you running?

Re: virtual catalyst 9800 stuck on boot

secElh — Fri, 16 May 2025 05:37:11 GMT

vCenter Version:

8.0.3 build: 24022515

VMware ESXi, 7.0.3, 22348816

btw i should note that those messages appear even when it boots normally, but in a normal boot it continues, but in a non normal one, it just gets stuck.. not going beyond those lines.

Re: virtual catalyst 9800 stuck on boot

secElh — Fri, 16 May 2025 13:29:06 GMT

i just migrated all my controllers to another storage, and that seemed to have helped, we'll see how it goes, and i need figure out how to make it stop, if that truly happens.

Re: virtual catalyst 9800 stuck on boot

Scott Fella — Fri, 16 May 2025 14:32:03 GMT

What version of ESXi? What does the logs show on the ESXi host for that instance?

Re: virtual catalyst 9800 stuck on boot

secElh — Fri, 16 May 2025 15:24:41 GMT

vCenter Version:

8.0.3 build: 24022515

VMware ESXi, 7.0.3, 22348816

i don't have access to the logs (not the admin)

Re: virtual catalyst 9800 stuck on boot

Scott Fella — Fri, 16 May 2025 15:41:26 GMT

You need to engage them to help with the troubleshooting. I'm going to assume they have some vMotion happening.

Re: virtual catalyst 9800 stuck on boot

Rich R — Sun, 18 May 2025 21:47:26 GMT

You've not mentioned anywhere what version of 9800-CL IOS-XE you're running?
Are you up to date as per the TAC recommended link below?
And since you say you are not the ESX admin have you got the admin to follow the 9800-CL install and setup guides? There are specific (non-default) settings which must be applied for the 9800-CL to work correctly.

Re: virtual catalyst 9800 stuck on boot

secElh — Mon, 19 May 2025 07:08:51 GMT

although i'm not the admin, i'm the guy that actually deploys those ova and i try as much as i can to follow through (i.e get promicious mode, thick provisioning etc..) i'm running several versions tried 17.12.05 , 17.09.06, 17.09.07 they've all failed in the same way.

Re: virtual catalyst 9800 stuck on boot

Mark Elsen — Mon, 19 May 2025 07:25:40 GMT

@secElh - It looks like there are some basic things going wrong when deploying the VM , try to make the basic installation together and make sure that the items from @Rich R are done too (so you have a clear view on what is actually happening)
(because no one else has seen such issues!)

Re: virtual catalyst 9800 stuck on boot

Rich R — Mon, 19 May 2025 14:39:28 GMT

I've only ever seen something similar happen once when it got corrupted on upgrade and wouldn't boot.
I had to boot from the gold image to recover it but did not need a full rebuild.
Check that you're running those software versions on supported versions of ESX
https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/wireless/controller/9800/17-12/release-notes/rn-17-12-9800.html#Cisco_Concept.dita_c9f5f62c-3813-4ab2-9365-71d583c3a462
And then open a TAC case to troubleshoot.