Restarting the Management agents on an ESX Server

Restarting the Management agents on an ESX Server KB Article 1003490 Updated Feb. 20, 2009

Products

VMware ESX VMware ESXi

Product Versions

VMware ESX 3.0.x VMware ESX 3.5.x VMware ESXi 3.5.x Embedded VMware ESXi 3.5.x Installable

Symptoms

Cannot connect ESX Server to VirtualCenter Cannot connect directly to ESX Server from the Virtual Infrastructure client

Purpose

For troubleshooting purposes, it may be necessary to restart the management agents on your ESX Server. This article provides you with the steps to restart the management agents (mgmt-vmware and vmware-vpxa) directly on ESX Server 3.x or ESX Server 3i.

Resolution

Restarting the Management agents on ESX Server 3.x  To restart the management agents on ESX Server 3.x: Login to your ESX Server as root from either an SSH session or directly from the console of the server. Type service mgmt-vmware restart . Caution: Ensure Automatic Startup/Shutdown of virtual machines is disabled before running this command or you risk rebooting the virtual machines.  For more information, see Restarting hostd (mgmt-vmware) on ESX Server Hosts Restarts Hosted Virtual Machines Where Virtual Machine Startup/Shutdown is Enabled (1003312). Press Enter. Type service vmware-vpxa restart . Press Enter. Type logout and press Enter to disconnect from the ESX Server. If this process is successful, it appears as:   [root@server]# service mgmt-vmware restart Stopping VMware ESX Server Management services:    VMware ESX Server Host Agent Watchdog                   [  OK   ]    VMware ESX Server Host Agent                            [  OK  ] Starting VMware ESX Server Management services:    VMware ESX Server Host Agent (background)               [  OK   ]    Availability report startup (background)                [  OK   ] [root@server]# service vmware-vpxa restart Stopping vmware-vpxa:                                      [  OK   ] Starting vmware-vpxa:                                      [  OK   ] [root@server]# Note: If there are failures listed: The most common reason for a stopping task to fail is that the service is not started. If a starting task fails for the mgmt-vmware service, see Troubleshooting the VMware ESX Server Management Service when it will not start (1003561). If a starting task fails for the vmware-vpxa service, see Troubleshooting the VirtualCenter Agent Service when it will not start (1006128).   Restarting the Management agents on ESX Server 3i To restart the management agents on ESX Server 3i: Connect to the console of your ESX Server. Press F2 to customize the system. Login as root . Using the Up/Down arrows navigate to Restart Management Agents. Press Enter. Press F11 to restart the services. When the service has been restarted, press Enter. Press Esc to logout of the system. The following dialogue indicates the process is complete:   If starting or stopping the management agent fails try restarting it a second time. If it still fails please file a support request with VMware Support.  For more information, see How to Submit a Support Request .