Connection timeout on ESXi 4.0

[aelg]

Hi,

I have been running a ESXi server for a couple of months. Today, it is unreachable by the vSphere Client and also the web interface (where you can download the vSphere Client).

With vSphere upon waiting some time at login this message box appears:

Could Not Connect

vSphere Client could not connect with the vCenter Server "esx2.bla.se.

Details: The server took to long to respond

When browsing the web interface the browser gets the status "Connected to esx2.bla.se..." but nothing more happens.

Connection timeout issue?

When accessing the physical console all looks well (yes, I have restarted it several times, also restarted the Management network and Management Agents no avail).

One strange thing though is that when trying to change the value of the Lockdown mode, the setting won't stick (from enabled to disabled). I haven't tried this before, so this might be unrelated.

The server is set to a static IP and I have made sure that no other computer has this assigned. When pinging, I get a response.

A coworker who tried to connect say that he got an error like "Could not load inventory" and he said he could access the web interface. I havent been able though, this might have changed after he restarted the server.

Do you have any recomendations on how to troubleshoot/solve this problem?

Some service not running? Even after full restart?

EDIT: When telnetting port 902 I get this response:

220 VMware Authentication Daemon Version 1.10: SSL Required, ServerDaemonProtoco

l:SOAP, MKSDisplayProtocol:VNC , VMXARGS supported

Telnet to 80 and 443 get connected (no output though).

Message was edited by: aelg

[f10 · Accepted solution]

If connecting to ESX host fails with error loading inventory then I would suspect that its an issue with the Host agent. To check this connect to the ESX host using SSH or direct console.

Restart the Management Service using # service mgmt-vmware restart, and simultaneously monitor the hostd.log using # tail -f /var/log/vmware/hostd.log and ensure that you get "BEGIN SERVICES". You would notice that while restarting the hostd service if everything is fine you would see the that the host is registering all the VM's else you would receive some error message.

Let us know what you get from this !

If you found this or other information useful, please consider awarding points for "Correct" or "Helpful".

f-10

VCP3, VCP4, HPCP, HP UX CSA

[aelg]

Well. After a full restart of the server i looked at the hostd.log and I got BEGIN SERVICES, still no access.

After issuing the service mgmt-vmware restart command I got pretty much the same log output but this time access is restored!

Seems to me that when restarting the whole server, hostd dont get fully operational (possible race condition?) in my case. Needs to be restarted separatly.

Thank you very much good sir!

[f10]

Hostd service starting behaving strangely if there are some underlying issues with ESX, most common are 100% root file system and issues with Storage at times one of the misconfigured VM's would cause this.

Hostd.log and check the /var/log/vmkernel and you would get an idea about whats going on and how it could be resolved.

I am glad that the server is accessible now

If you found this or other information useful, please consider awarding points for "Correct" or "Helpful".

f-10

VCP3, VCP4, HPCP, HP UX CSA