Quick Boot is a vSphere feature that speeds up the upgrade process of an ESXi server. A regular reboot involves a full power cycle that requires firmware and device initialization. Quick Boot optimizes the reboot path to avoid this, saving considerable time from the upgrade process.
Quick Boot of an ESXi host is a setting that allows VMWare Update Manager (VUM) to optimize the remediation time of hosts that undergo patch and upgrade operations. If the Quick Boot feature is enabled, Update Manager skips the hardware reboot (the BIOS or UEFI firmware reboot).
As a result, the time spent by ESXi host in Maintenance Mode shortens and the risk of failures during remediation is minimized.
But not all servers or configurations support the Quick Boot feature. The Update Manager UI will present Quick Boot as an option for servers that support the feature, however for some servers this option will not be available and your host will perform regular reboot rather than a Quick Boot.
VMware KB 52477 (Quick Boot Compatibility) provides more details.
You may see this issue with Quick Boot if:
- Host platform is not supported.
- Host is configured to use a TPM.
- passthru devices configured for VMs on your host.
- vmklinux drivers loaded on your host.
- Other non-certified drivers loaded on your host
- Quick Boot is disabled in the Update Manager UI.
Dell EMC supports quick boot on the following platforms:
Quick Boot is verified and is supported with a limited set of hardware platforms, drivers. Quick Boot is not supported on ESXi hosts that use TPM or pass-through features. For more information about ESXi 6.7.x, see vSphere Update Manager Installation and Administration Guide at vmware.com/support/pubs.
To check if your system is compatible with Quick Boot, run this command on the ESXi host from the shell:
/usr/lib/vmware/loadesx/bin/loadESXCheckCompat.pyIf the system is not supported you will see this error message:
LoadESX is not compatible with vmkLinux drivers.
Compatibility check failed: violating one or more strict requirements (loadESX is not supported on this machine)Or, if is supported, you will see this message:
Congratulation - your system is compatible with loadESXYou can have the same information also from the vSphere Client:
If the host platform is not compatible with Quick Boot, see:
