ESX Not Responding error - Server Host Agent will not restart

[LWilliams55]

Hello,

I recieved an error message on one of my ESX Host in the VC. The message was "Not responding".

7 VM are currently connected to this host and they all appear to be running normally.

I was able to connect to Host's command line but was having some difficulty processing some commands, they just seem to hang. (ex: vmware-cmd -l doesn't give me a response...)

So I tried restarting the mgmt-vmware service:

Vmware ESX Server Host Agent Watchdog

Vmware ESX Server Host Agent

This is where is stops.

I also tried just stopping the service (service mgmt-vmware stop) and it still only gets this far.

Are their any other commands i might be able to run to get this Host back in the VC?

I'd rather not restart the host as it running production servers.

Thanks,

[nonu]

Try Restarting the VC Management agent.

sudo service vmware-vpxa restart

[mikemast]

I am having the ame issue:

Stopping VMware ESX Server Management services:

VMware ESX Server Host Agent Watchdog

VMware ESX Server Host Agent

Gets to this point and stops......

Tried the vpxa restart and that did not fix it....

Anyone know how to get this back into virtal center with out rebooting the host.????

[mikemast]

I have a support ticket open for this issue. The ESX host could not be managed, could not even connect to web interface.

While waiting for support to call me back I left my SSH session open on the screen:

Stopping VMware ESX Server Management services:

VMware ESX Server Host Agent Watchdog

VMware ESX Server Host Agent

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

After about 2 1/2 hors I got this:

Stopping VMware ESX Server Management services:

VMware ESX Server Host Agent Watchdog

VMware ESX Server Host Agent

Starting VMware ESX Server Management services:

VMware ESX Server Host Agent (background)

Availability report startup (background)

Then I was able to connect to Virtual center.

It took 21/2 hours for the host agent to shutdown? I will fill in the Post when I get more info...

[vheff · Accepted solution]

I had this problem today with one of our ESX hosts. If you run:

ps -ef | grep vmware-hostd

You should see something like:

root 3545 3504 1 11:40 ? 00:00:12 /usr/lib/vmware/hostd/vmware-hostd /etc/vmware/hostd/config.xml -u

You can kill the process by:

kill -9 <PID> (e.g. kill -9 3545)

You should then be able to restart the mgmt-vmware service. In fact, if you are already trying to restart the service, it will suddenly kick into action. I don't know what causes this, but it won't effect your running VM's.

I hope that helps.

Ray

[archon888]

Ray,

This worked perfectly for me, thank you very much!!

[er1k]

Thanx Ray, you're the hero of the day!

[VulcanRocks]

Worked for me also.

Thanks Ray.

[jackdware]

Confirmed! This worked for me on ESX Server 3.5.0 113339

...saved me from some change management paperwork for sure!

[pitogo]

This used to work for me but now it stopped. I'm still able to both kill that process and restart the management service but VC doesn't want to connect. I disconnected and tried to connect I now get the original error message "Unable to connect to the specified host ..." I've tried the killing via both PID and by name it does kill it and I've restarted the management service and vpxa a few times but nothing fixes it. ESX 3.5.09, 120512.

1. killall -9 vmware-hostd

# service mgmt-vmware restart

Stopping VMware ESX Server Management services:

VMware ESX Server Host Agent Watchdog

VMware ESX Server Host Agent

Starting VMware ESX Server Management services:

VMware ESX Server Host Agent (background)

Availability report startup (background)

#

[kmkswamy]

The same thing is happening with my esx3.5 machine,

but the solution is not working.

This is the second time i am facing this problem, previously i had to restart the machine (lost all vm's).

I can't afford to perform the same again. But one symptom i see is that when the support console memory goes below 20MB this happens.

Does anyone know the reason for this? and how to solve/avoid this without loosing the VM's. I have given the maximum memory 800 for the service console.

[foxy1977]

Thanks Ray,

Killing the process worked for me