IOS XRv 9000 7.4.2 - ESXi 6.7 "Please wait for IOS XR to start."

[matthew-d-rogers]

IOS XRv 9000, version 7.4.2, VGA support, VRR image.

Running on VMware ESXi 6.7 standalone (no VCenter).

Deployed OVA file, VM is configured more or less automatically, only asking me for network mappings and datastore for vHDD.

Upon deployment, the VM is built and boots up, automatically reboots, then loads again, but I have been stuck at the "Please wait for IOS XR to start" screen in the VM console.

VM specs:

• vCPUs = 8 (configured by OVA)
• Memory = 24 GB (configured by OVA)
• Hard Disk = 64 GB (configured by OVA)
• Network adapter 1 = "Out-of-band MGMT" vlan, E1000
• Network adapter 2 = "Internal bridge" vlan x, E1000
• Network adapter 3 = "Internal bridge" vlan x, E1000 (same as NE 2)
• Network adapters 4 - 10 = point-to-point vlans I'm planning to use for connectivity to other virtual routers

[balaji.bandi]

Generally IOS XR take some time to load, if this longer than expected. suggest to look some config steps as per presentation :

https://www.ciscolive.com/c/dam/r/ciscolive/emea/docs/2018/pdf/LTRSPG-3005.pdf

[matthew-d-rogers]

Thanks for the quick response @balaji.bandi . However, after looking over the guide I am not seeing anything different to what I have already done. Similarly, I followed this guide when I originally started:

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/routers/virtual-routers/configuration/guide/b-xrv9k-cg/b-xrv9k-cg_chapter_01000.html

I do not believe this is a case of the VM being misconfigured or under-powered since the OVA set the CPUs, RAM and HDD space.

And since I have connectivity to the XR console via VGA (in ESXi VM console) I don't think I'm "in the wrong console" either. I did have that issue with another XRv image (v6.2.2), but was able to get a networked serial connection working to XR console, watched it boot and was similarly stuck at the same screen without IOX XR ever starting.

[balaji.bandi]

Can you post the screenshot i may try at my lab later and check.

[matthew-d-rogers]

Hello @balaji.bandi , after checking the box for "Expose hardware assisted virtualization to the guest OS" under the CPU hardware settings in ESXi, I was able to get IOS XR to load. I did keep seeing the following errors while it was loading, however:

RP/0/RP0/CPU0:<date> : processmgr[51]: %OS-SYSMGR-3-ERROR : http_client(268) with an env set not to use chkpt data

RP/0/RP0/CPU0:<date> : processmgr[51]: %OS-SYSMGR-3-ERROR : http_client(1) (jid 268) exited, will be respawned with a delay (slow-restart)

RP/0/RP0/CPU0:<date> : rsi_master[354]: %LIBRARY-REPLICATOR-3-IDT_FAIL : failed to complete IDT after several retries: rc 0x0 (Success)

And after setting a username and password, I am getting more errors:

0/RP0/ADMIN0: <date> : wdmon[2995]: %INFRA-WDMON-3-PM-HEARTBEAT_MISS : No heartbeat from process manager

Also, none of my interfaces show up (except the MGMT):

RP/0/RP0/CPU0:ios# sh int brief

Mon Mar 21 12:51:40.009 UTC

          Intf         Intf          LineP          Encap    MTU          BW
          Name         State         State           Type   (byte)     (Kbps)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

           Nu0            up            up           Null    1500           0
Mg0/RP0/CPU0/0    admin-down    admin-down           ARPA    1514     1000000

I am now searching through forums looking for any reasons that the virtual RP would not detect the virtual line card with the seven interfaces (that's Network adapters 4-10 in ESXi). The show platform and show inventory commends only display the route processor.

In the Linux bash shell, I run ip netns exec tpnns bash, then ifconfig but none of the "Gi0_0_0_x" interfaces show up.

I would share all the output but being stuck in the VGA console, I cannot copy and paste.

[balaji.bandi]

wdmon[2995]: %INFRA-WDMON-3-PM-HEARTBEAT_MISS : No heartbeat from process manager

this looks for me bug, i do not know the solution for this.