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ESX 4.0 upgrade fails with the error: Unknown failure

Symptoms

  • Upgrading from ESX 3.x to ESX 4.0 fails and rolls back
  • Both Update Manager and the Host Update Utility report:

    Unknown failure

  • The ESX host successfully boots off the CD but fails when recreating the virtual networking configuration.
  • After the rollback, the /esx4-upgrade/esx4_upgrade.log file contains entries similar to:

    2010-01-26 18:49:18,662 DEBUG An exceptional situation was encountered. Weasel does not know how to handle this. Terminating.
    2010-01-26 18:49:18,662 DEBUG The class of the exception was: networking.networking_base.WrappedVmkctlException
    2010-01-26 18:49:18,662 DEBUG The exception was: <WrappedVmkctlException (Set configuration failed. Unable to enable interface.  This address may be in use by an other host.
     Restoring old configuration.
    Failed to Restore old configuration. Set configuration failed. Unable to enable interface.  This address may be in use by an other host.)>
    2010-01-26 18:49:18,663 DEBUG Dumping userchoices
    2010-01-26 18:49:18,665 DEBUG ('__auth', {})

Resolution

This issue may occur if misconfigured IP addresses or duplicate IP addresses exist on the network.
 
To determine if there are any misconfigured IP addresses or duplicate IP addresses:
  1. In vSphere Client, click Configuration > Networking and ensure that the service console, vmkernel, and iSCSI IP addresses:
    • All have different IP addresses
    • Do not have a misconfigured IP address (such as 0.0.0.0 or 127.0.0.1, which is a loopback address)

  2. Shutdown the ESX host, then ping the IP address of the host. If you get a response after the host has been shut down, then another machine or device is using that IP address.

    Note: For more information, see Testing network connectivity with the ping command (1003486).

    Change the IP of any other machines or devices, then perform the upgrade.

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