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#1 2019-04-25 07:01:53

CharlieUk
Member
Registered: 2019-04-25
Posts: 7

line 490: syntax error: unexpected "&"

Hi there,

I just installed the XSIBACKUP-FREE and tried to run it but received the following error:

/vmfs/volumes/datastore1/xsi-dir/xsibackup: line 490: syntax error: unexpected "&"

This is on a fresh ESXi 6.7 U2
Any ideas?

Many thanks,

Last edited by CharlieUk (2019-04-25 08:34:30)

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#2 2019-04-25 08:08:17

fuzzyduck
Member
Registered: 2019-04-25
Posts: 14

Re: line 490: syntax error: unexpected "&"

Same error today. Must be ESXI 6.7 U2 i installed. A couple of days ago i was running backups just fine on U1.

Last edited by fuzzyduck (2019-04-25 08:51:42)

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#3 2019-04-25 08:35:31

CharlieUk
Member
Registered: 2019-04-25
Posts: 7

Re: line 490: syntax error: unexpected "&"

Thanks for mentioning the "U2" rather important detail, I forgot to mention it. Edited.

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#4 2019-04-25 10:37:35

admin
Administrator
Registered: 2017-04-21
Posts: 2,057

Re: line 490: syntax error: unexpected "&"

There's what seems to be a bug in the bash interpreter shipped with ESXi 6.7 U2. We have developed a solution as XSIBackup-Pro 11.3.0, but it's still in validation phase. In this post we treat the matter and offer a workaround.

We recommend that you avoid ESXi 6.7.0 U2 until VMWare releases a patch. If you can't skip this build and you are a Pro user, you can try XSIBACKUP-PRO 11.3.0, it's working quite well for us so far. Write to support to ask for it.

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#5 2019-04-25 16:32:04

CharlieUk
Member
Registered: 2019-04-25
Posts: 7

Re: line 490: syntax error: unexpected "&"

Thanks, sadly I am not a Pro user and cannot revert back to U1 because I installed U2 as fresh install so I guess I am out of luck.
Thank you anyways.

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#6 2019-04-25 20:40:28

fuzzyduck
Member
Registered: 2019-04-25
Posts: 14

Re: line 490: syntax error: unexpected "&"

is it a certain VIB from U2 we can roll-back?

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#7 2019-04-26 09:28:26

fuzzyduck
Member
Registered: 2019-04-25
Posts: 14

Re: line 490: syntax error: unexpected "&"

Is busybox used in esxi 6.5 something I can download somewhere?

Busybox binaries download

Rename busybox-x86_64 to busybox?

Last edited by fuzzyduck (2019-04-26 12:08:45)

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#8 2019-04-26 18:55:39

admin
Administrator
Registered: 2017-04-21
Posts: 2,057

Re: line 490: syntax error: unexpected "&"

You can't just download a binary and put it into your ESXi server. Please download latest version to fix your issue.

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#9 2019-04-26 20:05:14

fuzzyduck
Member
Registered: 2019-04-25
Posts: 14

Re: line 490: syntax error: unexpected "&"

Thank you for the reply.

As a terminal novice i give up for now. Ill wait for a bugfix.

thanks

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#10 2019-04-28 13:29:27

admin
Administrator
Registered: 2017-04-21
Posts: 2,057

Re: line 490: syntax error: unexpected "&"

Why don't you just use a more stable ESXi version: 5.5, 6.0, 6.5, 6.7 U1

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#11 2019-04-29 19:35:57

fuzzyduck
Member
Registered: 2019-04-25
Posts: 14

Re: line 490: syntax error: unexpected "&"

i just got in at 6.7. Patched to U1 and U2 now. I have never noticed anything unstable.

I could roll back to U1 though.

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#12 2019-04-30 04:07:51

CharlieUk
Member
Registered: 2019-04-25
Posts: 7

Re: line 490: syntax error: unexpected "&"

in my case, is there a way to go to U1 without a complete reinstall?

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#13 2019-04-30 08:10:39

fuzzyduck
Member
Registered: 2019-04-25
Posts: 14

Re: line 490: syntax error: unexpected "&"

As you dont have a previous build to roll back to, i dont think so. But better let someone answer with more experience than me wink

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#14 2019-04-30 14:15:54

admin
Administrator
Registered: 2017-04-21
Posts: 2,057

Re: line 490: syntax error: unexpected "&"

Well, there isn't really something that could be considered a "complex install". ESXi installs in some minutes. If you have some config backup (XSIBackup does them by default), you just need to reinstall ESXi preserving your datastores, then just unzip the contents of the server config backup and overwrite the /etc directory, that's all.

You can also use the built in commands. Copy the config backup to the temp dir and use the vim-cmd utility to restore it:

vim-cmd hostsvc/firmware/restore_config /tmp/backup-file.tgz

It's a pretty straight procedure that works like a charm. Just as long as you install the same ESXi version that the backup corresponds to, you won't have any problem.

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#15 2019-05-01 05:54:39

CharlieUk
Member
Registered: 2019-04-25
Posts: 7

Re: line 490: syntax error: unexpected "&"

Thank you very much.
I'll have to tread carefully here since it's a downgrade and not an upgrade. And of course, I do not have a backup smile in case things go nasty.
Also, an update came out today but I do not think it addresses the issue: (c)VMWare (c)ESXi 6.7 U2 patch

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#16 2019-05-02 17:57:52

fuzzyduck
Member
Registered: 2019-04-25
Posts: 14

Re: line 490: syntax error: unexpected "&"

i rolled back to U1 and xsi is working again.

thx for the help.

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#17 2019-05-02 18:48:59

admin
Administrator
Registered: 2017-04-21
Posts: 2,057

Re: line 490: syntax error: unexpected "&"

VMWare released a patch for this bug.
(c)VMWare patch for the Bash interpreter

Nevertheless, for goodness sake!, don't use in production some OS that just came out...
We sometimes use metaphores, gags or funny stories like being the "Caesars food taster", but this is something serious.

Nobody with some minimum experience and know how will put into production some OS that has been released "the day before".
Use some stable and well known version, most stable ESXi version from our experience is 5.5, although 6.0 and 6.5 have been out long enought to have some guaratees about its stability too.

This is a general comment, if you were just testing 6.7.0 U2, then this is obviously not for you.

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#18 2019-05-02 19:59:56

fuzzyduck
Member
Registered: 2019-04-25
Posts: 14

Re: line 490: syntax error: unexpected "&"

Dont worry, Im just a parttime geek with a homebrew esxi server running on a consumer board with non ECC-RAM smile

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#19 2019-05-03 05:58:00

CharlieUk
Member
Registered: 2019-04-25
Posts: 7

Re: line 490: syntax error: unexpected "&"

Honestly, I had to reinstall ESXi and completely dismissed the fact the U2 is so young. Kind of a click download, install approach. I get to pay the price for not being more diligent.
That said, this is a home lab machine so I suppose I will need to reinstall ESXi completely with U1 as suggested to get this working.
By the way, I tried installing the latest patch (Build 13473784) and unfortunately that made no difference.

Last edited by CharlieUk (2019-05-03 05:59:48)

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#20 2019-05-03 19:34:32

admin
Administrator
Registered: 2017-04-21
Posts: 2,057

Re: line 490: syntax error: unexpected "&"

Pro users may write to support to request a working version, which basically consists in XSIBackup running on its own shell. Free users should not worry much, just wait for VMWare to fix the issue.

ESXi is still the best hypervisor by far, but this guys at VMWare are going downhill lately, you can tell a "disturbance in the force" at their tech HQ ;-)

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#21 2019-06-02 16:28:06

thk
Member
Registered: 2019-06-02
Posts: 1

Re: line 490: syntax error: unexpected "&"

Not fixed in Build 13644319 (4/15) either. I don't think VMware will consider this as a bug - at least not an important one. Are you releasing a new XSIBackup version soon, to workaround the issue then?

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#22 2019-06-04 16:21:55

admin
Administrator
Registered: 2017-04-21
Posts: 2,057

Re: line 490: syntax error: unexpected "&"

Yes, we will have no other choice than releasing a new version with some older version of the very ESXi Hypervisor shell interpreter. We have tested it for quite a long time now and it works well with ESXi 6.7.0 U2.

Nevertheless using a version with a patch for an underlying bug is not something that we'll recommend our users doing. Not because XSIBackup won't work well, which we have tested quite thoroughly so far, but because that bug may be the source of other problems.

Taking on account that v. 6.7.0 U2 has accumulated a number of critical bugs and a high number of patches so far and that some are still pending, anybody using this version in production is playing russian roulette.

Previous versions from 5.5 are quite stable, especially 5.5, and more recommendable than 6.7.0 U2, it makes no sense using 6.7.0 U2 in production

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#23 2019-06-25 13:29:09

isombrinia
Member
Registered: 2019-06-25
Posts: 14

Re: line 490: syntax error: unexpected "&"

For whatever it's worth, I've installed the latest vmware esxi patchset (ESXi670-201906002) and it had no impact on the 'line 490: syntax error: unexpected "&"' error.  The error still happens.

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#24 2019-06-25 17:52:52

isombrinia
Member
Registered: 2019-06-25
Posts: 14

Re: line 490: syntax error: unexpected "&"

Also, it's worth noting that even using the latest busybox build binary (1.31), from busybox.net, the same error happens.  Given that this is even newer than the 1.29 version that ships with ESXi 6.7 U2, to me it indicates that this isn't a bug, but rather the "intended functionality" of busybox.

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#25 2019-06-25 21:50:58

admin
Administrator
Registered: 2017-04-21
Posts: 2,057

Re: line 490: syntax error: unexpected "&"

It could be a bug that propagated from busybox to ESXi bundle.

A $ sign token between double quotes must never be interpreted as an escapable literal but as the start token of a variable that must then be expanded inside the double quoted text.

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