ESX 3.x Server disconnected from Virtual Center but still running

Summary:
This usually occurs because the mgmt-vmware decides for whatever reason to stop talking back to Virtual Center and will not gracefully restart.

Configuration:
ESX 3.5.0, 110268 (Update 2)
Virtual Center 2.5.0 Build 104215
These steps may help you resolve issues with other versions, but attempt at your own risk.

Resolution:
  1. Log into the Service Console via Putty or another SSH Client and type "service mgmt-vmware restart." If successful in restarting the service, continue to step 2. If not successful see the immediate bullet below:
    • If the restart process hangs, you may need to open another putty session to kill -9 the process. (ex. kill -9 mgmt-vmware)
      • Once killed type "ps aux | grep hostd"
      • If the first line does not contain "vmware-watchdog" then it likely contains "config.xml -u" if so you'll need to kill -9 it based on the PID. The PID would be the highlighted value in the following example:
        • root 14096 3.9 10.9 105008 87348 ? S 14:04 1:49 /usr/lib/vmware/hostd/vmware-hostd /etc/vmware/hostd/config.xml -u
        • In this case you would need to run the following commands:
        • (ex. kill -9 14096)
        • service mgmt-vmware restart
        • The service should restart successfully and you should see the server reconnect successfully to VC. If not, you may need to "Disconnect" then "Connect" the server in the VC console. Otherwise continue on w/ the next steps.
  2. Next try restarting the vpx and authd services by typing "service vmware-vpxa" and "service vmware-vmkauthd restart."
  3. If the server still displays as disconnected, you can try manually installing the VC agent on the ESX server by following these steps:
    • On the VC server, locate the upgrade folder under your VC server program directory. (%ProgramFiles%\VMware\Infrastructure\VirtualCenter Server\upgrade)
    • Open the bundleversion.xml file and look for the bundle ID that corresponds to your ESX version (ie. ESX 3.0.x = 6, ESX 3.5.x = 7)
    • Copy the appropriate vpx-upgrade file for your bundle ID to a temp directory on your ESX server (ie. vpx-upgrade-esx-7-linux-)
    • Install the file by typing the following from the Service Console in the directory that you copied the file to: sh ./
    • Once it completes restart the hostd and vpx services on the ESX host by typing "service vmware-vpxa restart" and "service mgmt-vmware restart"
    • If your server still shows disconnected, then a reboot of the ESX server is usually needed to recover from this, but if you can call VMWare Tech Support.

Comments

Unknown said…
Fab.. this worked a treat, and if far more extensive then the other work arounds out there. Thanks a lot

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