Host gets freezed disconnected from vCenter with error message - Virtual machine creation may fail because agent is unable to retrieve VM creation options from the host (N5Vmomi5Fault17HostCommunication9ExceptionE(vmodl.fault.HostCommunication))

[RajuVCP]

Hi All,

It is something annoying issue.

The host esxi 6 or esxi 5.5 get disconnects from vCenter and reconnecting host will not work.

1. I can ping the host

2. I can ping the VM's running on them.

3. I can do ssh/rdp on the VMs running on them.

4. I can login console.

5. I can start management agent from DCUI but it doesn't reconnect host back.

6. The console get freezed when I try to enable Shell or SSH from DCUI.

I have to do force reboot the host to get it back to vCenter and VM's running on them will get rebooted.

When I went to went I saw before host gets not responding stage , the following message in event.

Virtual machine creation may fail because agent is unable to retrieve VM creation options from the host (N5Vmomi5Fault17HostCommunication9ExceptionE(vmodl.fault.HostCommunication))

It is there for most the host and its going since many days.

VMware support could able to identify the root cause.

Does any one had similar issue and what they do to fix them.

[Stanley_]

Hi,

we had similar issue on ESXi 5.5. and it was caused by bug  in AD authentication agent. workaround was to remove ESXi hosts from AD domain (Leave domain).

nowdays it is already patched

[SureshKumarMuth]

At time of issue, are you able to take direct vsphere client session to the host?

I highly suspect this could be an issue with hostd agent which is responsible for all user world tasks. Did you get a chance to check the hostd log ?

post the hostd logs at the time of issue to check which module is causing the issue. I am also wondering why does it not work even after restarting management agents.

I found the following article, check if this helps you

http://foonet.be/2012/02/27/configuration-issues-vmodl-fault-hostcommunication/

[Stanley_]

do you have enough space inside your ESXi (log-in  to ESXi shell and type "vdf -h"

sometimes missconfigured syslog folder can eat all the space. and then even after restart it doesnt work. but for sure logs from affected ESxi host with timestamps when the issue is observed will be welcome.

THanks

[RajuVCP]

I couldn't able to connect host directly from C#client or webclient. verified have enough space on ESXi also.

[RajuVCP]

Each of our esxi host is configured/installed locally and have enough space. Am sure we do not have any space constraint for our ESXi host.

[Soap01]

I see the same issue in my environment as well and am looking for the solution. It seemed to start after we moved from 5.5U3 to 6U2 and I only see it on the hosts that have been upgraded to 6U2. (running VCSA 6 fully patched w/ embedded PSC)