Unable to edit settings through VI client

[jtcdesigns]

I'm using ESX 3.0.3 and when I right click on this certain virtual machine while it is running or shutdown I click edit settings and an error window pops up saying "the request refers to an object that no longer exists or has never existed" I can still run this no problem of course it will be a problem when I try to adjust memory which I'm assuming I can do by editing the vmx file I hope. Is there some test I can do? I tried to register the VM using this vmware-cmd -s register /vmfs/volumes/san-esx01-live/mail/mail.vmx

and I get the following errorVMControl error -999: Unknown error

[java_cat33]

Restart hostd and try again.

service mgmt-vmware restart

[jtcdesigns]

so if I do this

service mgmt-vmware restart

Will that restart all VM's running on that machine or is it just restarting certain services? I cant afford to have this restart machines on me or I'd probably be filling out my resume for another job if things went bad.

[java_cat33]

Firstly - sorry if this post is repeated twice.... my browser has been playing up and crashing!

I'm not aware of any issues restarting hostd on your version of ESX, however I do know there was an issue with 3.0.1 and 3.5

Here's a few kb articles on it.

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&externalId=7557441&sl... 0 8628376

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&externalId=1003457&sl... 0 8628376

On a patched system restarting hostd will not cause any outage to your VM's (just make sure you're not taking snapshots etc at the time you restart it).

[mikepodoherty]

Haven't seen the comand: service mgmt-vmware restart ever restart the guest servers. Usually, I stop the agent first and then restart the management service:

service vmware-vpxa stop

service mgmt-vmware restart

the agent service normally restarts but you can start it manually if needed by service vmware-vpxa start.

[java_cat33]

I experiened it first hand in our DEV environment on ESX 3.5 after it was first released (before it was a known issue) - was a real pain!

[jtcdesigns]

I may have to wait till after hours to do this then.... I just got us back up with the internet and network connection going... apparently we lost both out of nowhere and it makes no sense at all... so after beating down a few network switches and such.. things are semi working.

[jtcdesigns]

well I bit the bullet and did the service mgmt-vmware restart and for some reason I cant connect to the server anymore with the virtual client..... I tried the other one the vmware-vpxa but the command doesn't work says unrecognized service maybe

I get this error when I try to login

Exception from HRESULT: 0x8004012C

[mikepodoherty]

Do you have ssh set up? IF so, try using that to connect to the server. Once on the server, you can check to see if the management agent and the host agents are running

service mgmt-vmware status

service vmware-vpxa status

IF they are not running, use the start option to turn them on:

service mgmt-vmware start

service vmware-vpxa start