VMware ESX and Virtual Center Connectivity
Common Problem – You cannot connect Virtual Center to a specific ESX host server or the ESX host is "Not Responding"
If an existing ESX host, for some reason, goes into (not responding) mode, use the following steps to troubleshoot.
This also applies if an attempt to add a new host fails.
General questions to think about:
Can you connect via SSH to the host directly?
Will the host answer to PING requests?
Is the host running at all?
Can you connect your VI client directly to the ESX server host?
Yes. If so, there is some other network problem between Virtual Center and the ESX host, or there may be problems with the
vpxa daemon on the ESX host. However, you have just proven that the ESX host server is running and its Service Console communications are intact.
1) Validate the network connectivity between the Virtual Center server and the ESX host. Try a PING request from Virtual
Center to the ESX host directly.
2) Make sure the vpxa daemon is running on the host. Gain console access to the ESX host and issue the following command:
service vmware-vpxa restart
Wait a few minutes. You will most likely see screen refreshes in your Virtual Infrastructure client as the target ESX host
and Virtual Center communicate. This will usually fix this issue and the ESX host will generally become accessible via Virtual Center.
No. If your Virtual Infrastructure client cannot connect directly to the ESX server host, try using an SSH connection. If SSH
is functional, but the Virtual Infrastructure client is not, then the hostd daemon on the host is probably not running, but,
the Service Console network communications are intact. Restart the hostd daemon and issue the following command:
service mgmt-vmware restart
– or –
Reboot the ESX server host
If SSH is NOT functional, but PING requests are anwsered, then you have multiple problems. Maybe SSH and hostd are both down
but, the host is running and the Service Console network communications are intact.
Reboot the ESX host server