VMware and 8.4 known issues?

[Charles Sprickman]

Hello,

I have about a dozen FreeBSD 8.4 VMs running on a pair of ESXi
(5.0.0, build 469512) boxes.  Generally, I have not had any problems
with this configuration.  However one particular VM, which is
running the same kernel and same VMware settings as the other VMs
has paniced twice in the past few months.

I do not have a core dump, but both times a message regading the
CD-ROM device was logged shortly before the panic:

Sep 9 08:50:56 shellvm kernel: ata1: WARNING - READ_TOC read data
overrun 18>12

Prior to the panic, the only thing Ive observed via my normal nagios
checks was that snmp and other network services became unavailable
and ping times to the host became very erratic, jumping from a few
ms to 800ms+.  After the panic, the VM is locked up hard and
consuming copious amounts of CPU.

Looking around I see two things of note:

https://communities.vmware.com/message/1876880 (suggests it’s an
issue with FreeBSDs CD-ROM handling)

http://freebsd.1045724.n5.nabble.com/Re-kern-150186-parallels-panic-Parallels-Desktop-CDROM-disconnected-leads-to-panic-eventually-td4114484.html
(also suggests CD issues)

This thread also ends with Ivan Voras stating "I'd say it's 'well
known' - at least the panic also happens on VMWare, and has been
happening for many years.

Ill try the suggested fix of completely removing the CD-ROM device
(its currently in the device list, but is not connected), but Im
curious if theres any reference Ive missed regarding known VMware
issues and/or best practices.  Ill be sure to grab a console
screenshot if it happens again, I have little hope of getting a dump
though, as it seems the whole IO system is locked up.

Thanks,

Charles

-- Charles Sprickman NetEng/SysAdmin Bway.net - New York's Best
Internet www.bway.net spork at bway.net - 212.982.9800

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