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10,254 Views 12 Replies Last post: Feb 5, 2009 8:57 AM by jheinzle RSS
MattG Master
MattG
839 posts since
Jun 21, 2004
Currently Being Moderated

Jul 23, 2008 6:56 AM

How to kill a stuck VM in ESX 3.5?

 

We use vRanger to perform weekly BUPs of our VMs.

 

 

This week vRanger began its BUP of one of the VMs and never completed.  Now the VM is hung.  I cannot power it down with any of the GUI power-down operations.

 

 

How can I force this VM to shutdown?   Is there a way to kill the world ID?

 

 

Thanks,

 

 

-MattG

 

 

depping Champion VMware Employees User Moderators vExpert
depping
4,238 posts since
Jan 17, 2005
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1. Jul 23, 2008 7:03 AM in response to: MattG
Re: How to kill a stuck VM in ESX 3.5?

 

try stopping it via the command line:

vmware-cmd -l = list all the vm's running, copy and paste the full path to the below command.

 

 

vmware-cmd <config> stop trysoft

if trysoft doesn't work you could always kill the process ->

ps -ef | more

find the proces related to the world

kill it.

 

 

Duncan

My virtualisation blog:

http://www.yellow-bricks.com

 

If you find this information useful, please award points for "correct" or "helpful".

 

 

Duncan | Yellow-Bricks.com | Author of the vSphere 5.0 Clustering Deepdive
Rubeck Master
Rubeck
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Mar 7, 2008
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2. Jul 23, 2008 7:09 AM in response to: MattG
Re: How to kill a stuck VM in ESX 3.5?

ps -auxwww | grep -i  to kill it..

 

/Rubeck

VCP#3401
MattG Master
MattG
839 posts since
Jun 21, 2004
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3. Jul 23, 2008 7:09 AM in response to: depping
Re: How to kill a stuck VM in ESX 3.5?

 

I get this when issuing the stop command.

 

 

VMControl error -999: Unknown error: SoapError: ServerFaultCode(1604) : (Operation failed since another task is in progress.)

 

 

-MattG

 

 

-MattG If you find this information useful, please award points for "correct" or "helpful".
depping Champion VMware Employees User Moderators vExpert
depping
4,238 posts since
Jan 17, 2005
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4. Jul 23, 2008 7:23 AM in response to: MattG
Re: How to kill a stuck VM in ESX 3.5?

and killing it like we described above?

 

 

 

 

Duncan

My virtualisation blog:

http://www.yellow-bricks.com

 

If you find this information useful, please award points for "correct" or "helpful".

Duncan | Yellow-Bricks.com | Author of the vSphere 5.0 Clustering Deepdive
Rubeck Master
Rubeck
940 posts since
Mar 7, 2008
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5. Jul 23, 2008 7:44 AM in response to: depping
Re: How to kill a stuck VM in ESX 3.5?

Ohh... BTW:

 

When using vm-support -X  to define output dir if needed)

 

The script will run for a few minutes..

 

/Rubeck

VCP#3401
MattG Master
MattG
839 posts since
Jun 21, 2004
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6. Jul 23, 2008 7:52 AM in response to: Rubeck
Re: How to kill a stuck VM in ESX 3.5?

 

vm-support -X worked.

 

 

For some strange reason it disconnected my host from VC,  but it worked.  I am rebooting the VC server to see if it can manage the host again.

 

 

Thanks,

 

 

-MattG

 

 

-MattG If you find this information useful, please award points for "correct" or "helpful".
MattG Master
MattG
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7. Jul 23, 2008 7:56 AM in response to: MattG
Re: How to kill a stuck VM in ESX 3.5?

 

So it appears that the VC Agent on my host is in a confused state now.

 

 

Can I just restart the VC agent on the host?  If so, how?

 

 

Thanks,

 

 

-MattG

 

 

-MattG If you find this information useful, please award points for "correct" or "helpful".
Rubeck Master
Rubeck
940 posts since
Mar 7, 2008
Currently Being Moderated
8. Jul 23, 2008 8:52 AM in response to: MattG
Re: How to kill a stuck VM in ESX 3.5?

 

service mgmt-vmware restart

 

 

/Rubeck

 

 

VCP#3401
MattG Master
MattG
839 posts since
Jun 21, 2004
Currently Being Moderated
9. Jul 23, 2008 9:12 AM in response to: Rubeck
Re: How to kill a stuck VM in ESX 3.5?

 

That did it.

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks,

 

 

-MattG

 

 

-MattG If you find this information useful, please award points for "correct" or "helpful".
RAM9999 Novice
RAM9999
16 posts since
Jul 21, 2008
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10. Sep 19, 2008 10:01 AM in response to: MattG
Re: How to kill a stuck VM in ESX 3.5?

 

>>For some strange reason it disconnected my host from VC, but it worked. I am rebooting the VC server to see if it can manage the host again.

 

 

Now that's scary. I am running into this exact same problem but after reading what happened to Matt. I will have to look for another solution because I can not have my host disconnected. That I can not afford.

 

 

 

 

 

I'll probably have to migrate all the VM's to another host and then power cycle this host that has this VM stuck on it.

 

 

vmware.admins Lurker
vmware.admins
1 posts since
Jan 25, 2008
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11. Sep 19, 2008 4:08 PM in response to: RAM9999
Re: How to kill a stuck VM in ESX 3.5?

Ive killed VMS by telling the machine to shutdown through the console, and by killing the process manually (two different issues). I havent had any issues with the ESX host disconnecting from the VC.   

 

Is there any specific reason you cant have your ESX host enter a "disconnected" state with your VC?

jheinzle Lurker
jheinzle
1 posts since
Apr 26, 2008
Currently Being Moderated
12. Feb 5, 2009 8:57 AM in response to: RAM9999
Re: How to kill a stuck VM in ESX 3.5?

The disconnect from VC won't hurt you. All the VMs will still run until you get the ESX host connected again.

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