Hi,
I have ESX 4.1 installed with vCenter. After a rough week with 2 heavy storms and a lot of power failures (and no UPS ...) my machine began to act weird. At first it did a uncontrolled power off. Iow: power switch off type of shut down. No warning, just plain dead. I checked the log file /var/log/vmksummary according to this post : VMware KB: Determining why an ESXi/ESX host was powered off or restarted
My issue is not kernel related, nor is it script related. The server simply shuts off while booting, or after several hours of normal service. My log file is in this style:
Mar 9 10:01:49 localhost logger: (1265803308) hb: vmk loaded, 1746.98, 1745.148, 0, 208167, 208167, 0, vmware-h-59580, sfcbd-7660, sfcbd-3524
Mar 9 10:44:46 localhost vmkhalt: (1268149486) Starting system...
Mar 9 10:45:40 localhost logger: (1268149540) loaded VMkernel
You see the vmk is loaded, and next step is that the server is rebooting. So no shutting down warning. At first I assumed that this could be a heating problem. I cleaned up and reapplied thermal compound between the CPU and the rib. The power supply is one with 2 fans. To be sure I opened up the PS and vacuumed it. Then I added 2 additional fans (I use the chassis fans and attached them on the outside of the PS, just to disclose possible overheating). But still no use.
What I find strange is that the hardware can enter bios mode and stand there for days. CPU temp is max 40-41 C, and motherboard around 30 C. All stable. I can boot with the Linux System Boot CD and stand at the prompt without any problems. So it begins more and more to look like there is a file issue.
It is here I have some questions that remain unanswered.
- Since ESX is an independent OS that partially uses the Linux kernel (please correct me if I am wrong here), I am uncertain if I can use the Linux System Boot CD to do a FS2Check?
- I have been looking for a way to copy over the virtual machines over to another PC, just to make sure I have the latest status in case the ESX server needs to be re-installed. Not sure what I need to mount in order to get access to the VM files. I had a look at Veeam FastSCP but I don't have a spare machine that has the right specs for this software to run. In addition am I convinced that I can not install anything on my ESX server until this problem is solved.
All other suggestions are welcome. Would love to have my system back up and running before the end of this year 
.
Best regards!