Troubleshooting an ESXi/ESX host in non responding state

-
Symptoms
  • An ESXi/ESX host shows as Not Responding in VirtualCenter or vCenter Server
  • An ESXi/ESX host shows as Disconnected in vCenter Server
  • Cannot connect an ESXi/ESX host to vCenter Server
  • Virtual machines on an ESXi/ESX host show as grayed out in vCenter Server
  • When attempting to add an ESXi/ESX host to vCenter Server, you see an error similar to:

    Unable to access the specified host, either it doesn't exist, the server software is not responding, or there is a network problem
     
  • In the vpxd.log file, you see entries similar to:
     
    • T
    • T
      For more information, see Location of VMware vCenter Server 6.0 log files (2110014)

      Note: The preceding log excerpts are only examples. Date, time, and environmental variables may vary depending on your environment.
Purpose
This article provides steps to troubleshoot when an ESXi/ESX host is in disconnected or a not responding state in vCenter Server. In addition, it provides steps to help you eliminate common causes for your problem by verifying that the configuration of your networking and management server agents is correct and confirm the availability of resources on your ESXi/ESX host.

Resolution
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.

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

ESXi

  1. Verify that the ESXi host is in a powered ON state. For more information, see Determining why an ESXi/ESX host was powered off or restarted (1019238).
  2. Verify that the ESXi host can be reconnected, or if reconnecting the ESXi host resolves the issue. For more information, see Changing an ESXi or ESX host's connection status in vCenter Server (1003480).
  3. Verify that the ESXi host is able to respond back to vCenter Server at the correct IP address. If vCenter Server does not receive heartbeats from the ESXi host, it goes into a not responding state. To verify if the correct Managed IP Address is set, see Verifying the vCenter Server Managed IP Address (1008030) and ESXi 5.0 hosts are marked as Not Responding 60 seconds after being added to vCenter Server (2020100). See also, ESXi/ESX host disconnects from vCenter Server after adding or connecting it to the inventory (2040630) and ESX/ESXi host keeps disconnecting and reconnecting when heartbeats are not received by vCenter Server (1005757).
  4. Verify that network connectivity exists from vCenter Server to the ESXi host with the IP and FQDN. For more information, see Testing network connectivity with the ping command (1003486).
  5. Verify that you can connect from vCenter Server to the ESXi host on TCP/UDP port 902. If the host was upgraded from version 2.x and you cannot connect on port 902, then verify that you can connect on port 905. For more information, see Testing port connectivity with Telnet (1003487).
  6. Verify if restarting the ESXi Management Agents resolves the issue. For more information, see Restarting the Management agents on an ESXi or ESX host (1003490).
  7. Verify if the hostd process has stopped responding on the affected ESXi host. For more information, see Troubleshooting vmware-hostd service if it fails or stops responding on an ESX/ESXi host (1002849)
  8. The vpxa agent has stopped responding on the affected ESXi host. For more information, see Troubleshooting the vCenter Server Agent when it does not start (1006128)
  9. Verify if the ESXi host has experienced a Purple Diagnostic Screen. For more information, see Interpreting an ESX/ESXi host purple diagnostic screen (1004250)
  10. ESXi hosts can disconnect from vCenter Server due to underlying storage issues. For more information, see Identifying Fibre Channel, iSCSI, and NFS storage issues on ESXi/ESX hosts (1003659).

ESX

  1. Verify that the ESX host is in a powered on state.
  2. Verify that the ESX host can be reconnected, or if reconnecting the ESX host resolves the issue. For more information, see Changing an ESXi or ESX host's connection status in vCenter Server (1003480).
  3. Verify that the ESX host is able to respond back to vCenter Server at the correct IP address. If vCenter Server does not receive heartbeats from the ESX host, it goes into a not responding state. To verify if the correct Managed IP Address is set, see Verifying the vCenter Server Managed IP Address (1008030). See also, ESXi/ESX host disconnects from vCenter Server after adding or connecting it to the inventory (2040630)
  4. Verify that network connectivity exists from vCenter Server to the ESX host with the IP and FQDN. For more information, see Testing network connectivity with the ping command (1003486).
  5. Verify that you can connect from vCenter Server to the ESX host on TCP/UDP port 902. If the ESX host was upgraded from version 2.x and you cannot connect on port 902, then verify that you can connect on port 905. For more information, see Testing port connectivity with Telnet (1003487).
  6. Verify that the ESX management service vmware-hostd is running. For more information, see Verifying that the Management Service is running on an ESX host (1003494) and Troubleshooting vmware-hostd service if it fails or stops responding on an ESXi/ESX host (1002849).
  7. Verify that the VirtualCenter agent service vmware-vpxa is running. For more information, see Verifying that the vCenter Server Agent Service is running on an ESX host (1003495).
  8. Verify that the xinetd service is running. If xinetd is not running, authentication may fail. For more information, see Determining if the xinetd service is running on an ESX host (1007323).
  9. Verify if restarting the ESX Management Agents resolves the issue. For more information, see Restarting the Management agents on an ESXi or ESX host (1003490).
  10. Verify that no processes are over-utilizing the resources on the Service Console. For more information, see Checking for resource starvation of the ESX Service Console (1003496).
  11. ESX hosts can disconnect from vCenter Server due to underlying storage issues. To investigate further, see Identifying Fibre Channel, iSCSI, and NFS storage issues on ESXi/ESX hosts (1003659).
VMware ESXi host that is in a Disconnected state
 
  1. The affected ESXi host has been explicitly disconnected by a user from the vCenter Server. For more information, see the Disconnecting and Reconnecting a Host section of VMware vSphere 5.1 Documentation.
  2. The ESXi host license has expired. For more information, see the Licensing for ESXi Hosts section of the VMware vSphere 6.0 Documentation.
  3. Firewall issues that is preventing traffic to pass through Port 902. For more information, see TCP and UDP Ports required to access VMware vCenter Server, VMware ESXi and ESX hosts, and other network components (1012382)
 
Note: If your problem still exists after trying the steps in this article:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

esxi-host-shows-disconnected-vmware

-
Symptom: The host and VMs in a vcenter server appears to be disconnected. Issue: The host and its corresponding vms could appear as disconnected due to issue with any of the following services. vpxa - a service which runs in the esxi host. This service communicates with vcenter server. hostd - core service which runs in the esxi host vpxd - a service which runs in the vcenter server which communicates with the vpxa Resolution: 1. Try to ping the ESXi host. This ensures that the host is reachable 2. Ensure you can login to the VMs remotely. This ensures that VMs in the host are working fine. 3. Try to login to the ESXi host using vsphere client. This ensures that the hostd services are running perfectly. If this step fails, restart the hostd service using putty. 4. If the above three steps worked fine for you, the issue would be with the vpxa or vpxd service. In that case, first try to restart the vpxa service in the host and if that didnot resol
Read more

ESXi : Lost uplink redundancy on virtual switch "vSwitch0". Physical NIC vmnic0 is down

-
We had an issue suddenly getting an alert : Lost uplink redundancy on virtual switch "vSwitch0". Physical NIC vmnic0 is down. Affected portgroups:"vMotion", "Management Network". So as a troubleshooting Select the ESXi host effected Click on Configuration, Select Networking, Click on vSwitch0 Properties,Click on Network adapters Select on vmnic0, Click on remove, Click on Close Again Select Networking, Click on vSwitch0 Properties,Click on Network adapters, Click on Add, Select the vmnic0, Click on Next, Click on Next, Click on Finish Now Click on Ports tab of vSwitch Properties, Select on vMotion, Click on Edit, Click on NIC Teaming, Select on vmnic1, Click on Moveup button  to Active Adapters, Select on vmnic0, Click on Move Down to Standby Adapters, Click on OK Now Click on Ports tab of vSwitch Properties, Select on Management Network, Click on Edit, Click on NIC Teaming, Select on vmnic1, Click on Moveup button  to Active Adapters, Select o
Read more

Virtual machines appear as invalid or orphaned in vCenter Server

-
Symptoms Virtual Machines show as invalid or orphaned in vCenter Server Virtual Machines show as invalid or orphaned after a VMware High Availability (VMware HA) host failure occurs Virtual Machines show as invalid or orphaned after an ESX host comes out of maintenance mode Virtual Machines show as invalid or orphaned after a failed DRS migration Virtual Machines show as invalid or orphaned after a storage failure Virtual Machines show as invalid or orphaned after the connection is lost between the vCenter Server and the host where the virtual machine resides You see one or more of these errors when trying to start a virtual machine: Could not power VM, no swap file, failed to power on VM. VMControl error -11: No such virtual machine. A general system error occurred. The system returned on error. Communication with the virtual machine may have been interrupted In   C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware VirtualCenter\Logs\vpxd.log   file, you see entries similar to: [11916 error
Read more