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russkiel
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Can't add new ESX Host to Virtual Center

Hello all,

I have just tried to add my third of twelve ESX hosts (3.0.2) to Virtual Center. This is my first glitch.

When I choose to "Add new Host," and walk through the wizard steps, I receive an error that says "[b]the host ESXxxx is already connected to this virtual server[/b]." Well, it isn't, but then it adds a "grayed out" and italicized entry in VC in a state of "disconnected." If I right click on that and choose "connect" I walk through the above steps and back to square one.

Is this a basic ESX install issue? Should I unlicense it, wipe it clean and rebuild? Or would this point to a VC issue and not the esx host itself?

If you've gotten this far, Thank you.

-Russ

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esiebert7625
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What if you do vpxa -v, does it return anything? Sounds like the VC agent is not installed, you might try manually installing it...

http://vmware-land.com/Vmware_Tips.html#ESX6

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esiebert7625
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Try restarting the mgmt-vmware and vmware-vpxa services on the ESX host service console.

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russkiel
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VERY interesting. Apparently, I'm lacking a vmware-vpxa service. I receive an "unrecognized service" response when I try to start it.

I realize I'm a newbie to esx (and as a result, linux commands) but could this be an issue? Or a failure to install properly?

Well, huh.

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jayolsen
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Make sure you sudo or su to root to have the right permissions to run that command.

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esiebert7625
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As indicated try doing su - or logging in as root. You can check what services are running using the below command:

service --status-all |grep running

You should see output like below: (vmware-hostd is the mgmt-vmware service)

\[root@draco Adonis]# service --status-all |grep running

crond (pid 1018) is running...

gpm (pid 971) is running...

vmware-hostd (pid 22199) is running...

ntpd (pid 7801) is running...

cimserver (pid 1288) is running...

Ramchecker is not running

sshd (pid 31758 31698 2723) is running...

syslogd (pid 842) is running...

klogd (pid 846) is running...

At least one virtual machine is still running.

VMware VMkernel authorization daemon is running (pid 1029).

vmware-vpxa is running

webAccess (pid 1551) is running...

xinetd (pid 962) is running...

\[root@draco Adonis]#

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russkiel
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Yeah, that makes sense. Here's mine, not a vmware-vpxa among them:

\[root@esxsv root]# service --status-all |grep running

crond (pid 1270) is running...

gpm (pid 1224) is running...

vmware-hostd (pid 2698) is running...

cimserver (pid 1382) is running...

Ramchecker is not running

sshd (pid 2555 2553 1142) is running...

syslogd (pid 1110) is running...

klogd (pid 1114) is running...

VMware VMkernel authorization daemon is running (pid 1282).

webAccess (pid 1249) is running...

xinetd (pid 1215) is running...

now, tryiing to see what may be stopped, i get this. again, not a vmware-vpxa among them either:

\[root@esxsv root]# service --status-all |grep stopped

irqbalance is stopped

rpc.mountd is stopped

nfsd is stopped

rpc.statd is stopped

nscd is stopped

ntpd is stopped

portmap is stopped

rdisc is stopped

saslauthd is stopped

smartd is stopped

snmpd is stopped

snmptrapd is stopped

winbindd is stopped

ypbind is stopped

\[root@esxsv root]#

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esiebert7625
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What if you do vpxa -v, does it return anything? Sounds like the VC agent is not installed, you might try manually installing it...

http://vmware-land.com/Vmware_Tips.html#ESX6

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russkiel
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First off, great page you just linked me to! Thank you.

Second, you're absolutely right, I don't have a VC agent installed on either of these last two ESX servers I built. It was successful on the first two, though. Odd.

Thank you all so much for pointing me in the right direction. I'll consider this post answered for now as I continue on my treasure hunt.

-Russ

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esiebert7625
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No problem, good luck. Don't forget to award points for helpful answers using the Helpful/Correct buttons....

jayolsen
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Glad to hear you got it resolved.

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