APIC failed to boot after ESXI installation

[Hamid.H]

Hello All,

I have a home lab and decided to add an ACI environment since I am studying for CCIE DC.

Got APIC-M3 appliances, one spine, and two leaves.

unfortunately, I did not know this caused an issue and did a dumb thing and installed ESXi on my APIC on a USB drive so I can use it for other purposes while not using ACI lab.

So, I noticed that APIC does not boot into ACI software anymore, so tried to reinstall the OS but had no luck. it failed on TMP check (TPM_RC_BAD_AUTH).

I don't have a support contract for that and I have no clue what else I can do about it. 

[Robert Burns · Accepted solution]

If the TPM is currently enabled in the BIOS, and you're still not able to install/boot the APIC ISO, then you likely need the TPM reprovisioned.  The TPM "locks" the OS to the HW, and if you installed ESX 6.7 or later, it likely overwrote the original APIC signature.  The only way to restore it requires root access through TAC, and it some cases RMA.  Without a valid support contract I'm afraid there's not much else that can be done.

Robert

[Hamid.H]

Hi Robert, 

Thanks for the information. for sure that is not an answer I was looking for but kind of expecting that.

I am going to find out if I can purchase a service contract as I spent too much time and money on the lab and really don't want to throw it away.

Just out of curiosity, does TAC use the flash drive that came with APIC to restore the APIC signature? if not, what is the purpose of that flash drive?

[Robert Burns]

Yes the USB flash drive is used to store the encrypted signed SSL CERT files.  By installing ESX on it, you'd have lost your certs.

Robert