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lnteststuff1
Contributor
Contributor

ESXi host disconnects from vCenter

Hi all,

I've added one ESXi host (version 6.0.0 5050593) to a vCenter (version 6.0.0 3634793). Everything went well for a pair of months but suddenly the ESXi host disconnected from the vCenter...

Tried to reconnect it to the vCenter and it reconnects without any problem but 5 to 10 minutes after, it disconnects again... What I see in the Tasks & Events tab is:

- Alarm: an SNMP trap for entity esxihost.domain.com was sent // info // 09/01/2018 16:15:30 // esxihost.domain.com

- Host is not responding // error // 09/01/2018 16:17:39 // esxihost.domain.com

As I said, it connects without any problems, which means that the connection is correctly stablished, what I cannot understand is why it disconnects...  Would it be a problem with the versions? I assume there should not be any problem adding an ESXi 6.0.0 5050593 to a vCenter 6.0.0 3634793...

Thanks in advance!

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13 Replies
admin
Immortal
Immortal

First of all it is important to understand the reason why the hosts are disconnected.

Were they connected before, and working properly?

What happens if you try to connect the hosts from the vCenter Server GUI?

Did you install updates on the hosts ?

Did you already try to restart Management Agents on the hosts?

Regards,

Randhir

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lnteststuff1
Contributor
Contributor

Thank you for your answer.

As I stated in the first post, yes, it was connected to the vCenter for two months without any problem.

If I try to connect the ESXi host back from the vCenter it connects and it disconnects after 2-5 mins.

The ESXi host did not receive any update after the initial addition to the vCenter.

No, I did not try to restart the management agents in this host that is having this problems. I will do so Smiley Happy

If you need any other information, please, let me know!

Thank you!

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daphnissov
Immortal
Immortal

Going to have to look at vpxa.log on the host(s) to see why it's disconnecting, and possibly hostd.log as well.

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dekoshal
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

Please upload logs as suggested in previous comment. in addition have a look at VMware KB#1003409

VMware Knowledge Base

Validate that each troubleshooting step below is true for your environment. Each step provides instructions or a link to a document to eliminate possible causes and take corrective action as necessary. The steps are ordered in the most appropriate sequence to isolate the issue and identify the proper resolution. After each step, try to connect to vCenter Server. Do not skip a step.

Follow the troubleshooting checklist in the KB under heading.

VMware ESX/ESXi host that is in a Not Responding state

ESXi

Best Regards,

Deepak Koshal

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lnteststuff1
Contributor
Contributor

Hi Dekoshal,

the problem is not that I cannot connect the ESXi host. I can connect it to the vCenter, it connects, all VMs are connected everything runs fine for 2 minutes, but suddenly after 2 minutes, it gets disconnected from the vCenter. Event "Host is not responding" appears and all the VMs are disconnected one by one... The host appears greyed out then in the vCenter.

I can reconnect again but the same happens, it connects, and after 2 minutes it disconnects.

I've been checking vpxa.log and hostd.log and there is nothing that sheds any light about the reason of the "Host is not responding message"...

Thank you everybody for your help!

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dekoshal
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

Please read the mentioned troubleshooting checklist carefully.

Point# 3 mentions three scenarios where esxi host disconnect from vcenter after its added successfully.

Best Regards,

Deepak Koshal

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askiljevic
Contributor
Contributor

I will try to help you with guessing...

Have you checked "Time Configuration" for that host?

Best Regards,

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admin
Immortal
Immortal

Verified if restarting the ESXi Management Agents resolves the issue

Run these commands:

/etc/init.d/hostd restart

/etc/init.d/vpxa restart

To restart all management agents on the host, run the command:

services.sh restart

Resolution:

After restarting  management agents ESXi has connected to vCenter normally.

Hope this may helpful to you.

Regards,

Randhir

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lnteststuff1
Contributor
Contributor

First of all, thank you everyone for your comments.

ranchuab​ I've performed "services.sh restart" in the ESXi host, then, in the vCenter where the ESXi host appears as "hostname.domain.com" (Not responding) did Right mouse + Connect option.

Again, happened the same as before... If I go to "Tasks & Events" in that ESXi host in the vCenter I see the Task: Reconnect host, then all the VMs of the ESXi host appear as connected and 2 mins after, "Host is not responding" and all the VMs disconnected...

I've already asked but nobody said that it cannot be the case so I'm asking again: Could it be the problem that the ESXi host has version 6.0.0, 5050593 and the vCenter is in version 6.0.0, 3634793?

If not, I'm still open to any ideas you may have... As I've also said, this host has been connected to the vCenter for more than 2 months without any problem...

Thanks in advance for your help!

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lnteststuff1
Contributor
Contributor

Bump, maybe somebody comes with a new idea on how to solve the problem Smiley Happy

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daphnissov
Immortal
Immortal

A couple of us have asked you to upload logs which you haven't done. Without seeing what is or is not being logged when this occurs is the only real way to know how to proceed.

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dineshgoundar
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

This is going to be a dump question but have you confirmed that there are no IP conflicts in the environment with the management IP of the affected ESXi host. Your ESXi host is ESXi 6.0 U3 while vCenter is 6.0U2. This is compatible though not recommended. vCenter should always run the same or higher version than the ESXi.

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sarikrizvi
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Try to Apply this KB -1005757 VMware Knowledge Base

Monitor host disconnection for few days and it will help .

Regards,
SARIK (Infrastructure Architect)
vExpert 2018-2020 | vExpert - Pro | NSX | Security
vCAP-DCD 6.5 | vCP-DCV 5.0 | 5.5 | 6.0 | vCA-DCV 5 | vCA-Cloud 5 | RHCSA & RHCE 6 | A+ (HW & NW)
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