PowerFlex 3.X: SVM Will Not Boot After OS Patch During RCM Upgrade From 3.5.4.4 to 3.6.2.3.

Summary: SVM failed to boot with an error message "kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: unable to mount root fs on unknown-block" after the OS patching. The incident occurs in the PowerFlex 13G Hyperconverged node. When upgrading from 3.5.4.4 to 3.6.2.3 ...

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Symptoms

  1. SDS shows disconnected in Presentation Server.

SDS shows disconnected in Presentation Server. 
 

  1. ScaleIO shows powered on in vCenter.ScaleIO shows powered on in vCenter. 
  2. SVM IP becomes unreachable.

SVM IP becomes unreachable. 
 

        4. PowerFlex web console shows error: 
kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: unable to mount root fs on unknown-block

 

Cause

Centos Linux 7 (Core) 3.10.0-1160.59.1.e17.x86_64 image goes missing from the Kernel which eventually caused the SVM to not able to boot post the OS patch.

Resolution

Workaround
Step 1.  Boot the SVM using old kernel image - Centos Linux 7 (Core) 3.10.0-1160.25.1.e17.x86_64.
Step 2. Validate if the new kernel image is missing - Centos Linux 7 (Core) 3.10.0-1160.59.1.e17.x86_64.

e.g.

  1. Go to vCenter and reset the SVM and launch the web console.
  2. Press up the arrow key and try to boot the SVM using old kernel image.
  3. Once SVM is up and running, type 
    #cd /boot
  4. Verify if the kernel image is missing 
    #ls -ltr
     Verify if the kernel image is missing 
  5. Reinstall kernel rpm using the following command 
    #rpm -ivh kernel-3.10.0-1160.59.1.e17.x86_64.rpm
  6. Reboot the SVM 
    #reboot
  7. Confirm RAM disk for kernel - Centos Linux 7 (Core) 3.10.0-1160.59.1.e17.x86_64 is createdConfirm RAM disk for kernel - Centos Linux 7 (Core) 3.10.0-1160.59.1.e17.x86_64 is created 
  8. Boot SVM using the new kernel image.

Affected Products

Hyper-converged Systems
Article Properties
Article Number: 000203921
Article Type: Solution
Last Modified: 04 Sep 2025
Version:  3
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