VMware ESXi 5.0/5.1 host fails to reconnect to VMware vCenter Server due to vpxa coredump

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• You cannot reconnect VMware ESXi host to VMware vCenter Server.
• You can connect the vSphere Client directly to the ESXi host.
• ESXi host vmkernel logs throw these messages, showing vpxa coredumping:

2012-07-23T14:56:36.728Z cpu1:3015)WARNING: UserObj: 675: Failed to crossdup fd 19, /vmfs/devices/char/vob/Vfat type CHAR: Busy
2012-07-23T14:56:36.728Z cpu1:3015)WARNING: UserObj: 3232: Unimplemented operation on 0x41001c9074b0/SOCKET_UNIX_SERVER
2012-07-23T14:56:36.728Z cpu1:3015)WARNING: UserObj: 675: Failed to crossdup fd 20, /var/run/vmware/vobd-user-ctx.s type SOCKET_UNIX_SERVER: Not implemented
2012-07-23T14:56:46.944Z cpu3:872571)User: 2348: wantCoreDump : vpxa-worker -enabled : 1
2012-07-23T14:56:47.295Z cpu2:872571)UserDump: 1625: Dumping cartel 956510 (from world 872571) to file /var/core/vpxa-zdump.002 ...
2012-07-23T14:58:24.406Z cpu0:872571)UserDump: 1737: Userworld coredump complete.
2012-07-23T14:58:24.554Z cpu3:3015)WARNING: UserObj: 675: Failed to crossdup fd 3, /vmfs/devices/char/vob/Scsi type CHAR: Busy

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 5.0
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.1

Resolution

To resolve this issue:

1. Connect to the Host with SSH. For more information, see Using ESXi Shell in ESXi 5.x (2004746).
   
2. Take a backup copy of /etc/vmware/vpxa/vpxa.cfg.
   
   For example:
   
   cp /etc/vmware/vpxa/vpxa.cfg /etc/vmware/vpxa/vpxa.cfg.bak
   
   
3. Open the vpxa.cfg file using a text editor. For more information, see Editing files on an ESX host using vi or nano (1020302).
4. Locate this entry:
   
   <ThreadStackSizeKb>128</ThreadStackSizeKb>
   
   
5. Change this entry to:
   
   
   <ThreadStackSizeKb>256</ThreadStackSizeKb>
   
   
6. Restart the vpxa service for the changes to take effect:
   
   /etc/init.d/vpxa restart
   
   
7. Reconnect the ESXi host to vCenter Server.

Additional Information

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Editing files on an ESX host using vi or nano
Using ESXi Shell in ESXi 5.x and 6.x
VMware ESXi 5.0/5.1 ホストが、vpxa コアダンプのために VMware vCenter Server への再接続に失敗する
由于 vpxa 核心转储，VMware ESXi 5.0/5.1 主机无法重新连接到 VMware vCenter Server