ESX/ESXi messages log entry: storageRM: Storage I/O Control: connection with vobd failed, error code: -1 errno: 2

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• An ESX/ESXi host's /var/log/messages file contains an entry similar to:
  
  storageRM: Storage I/O Control: connection with vobd failed, error code: -1 errno: 2
  
  
• If you restart the host, you may see this message:

Jun 21 11:09:16 xxxxxxxx watchdog-vobd: PID file /var/run/vmware/watchdog-vobd.PID not found
Jun 21 11:09:16 xxxxxxxx watchdog-vobd: Unable to terminate watchdog: Can't find process
Jun 21 11:09:16 xxxxxxxx watchdog-vobd: [4740] Begin '/usr/lib/vmware/bin/vmkload_app --sched.mem.min=0 --sched.mem.max=100 /usr/lib/vmware/bin/vobd', min-uptime = 60, max-quick-failures = 1, max-total-failures = 1000000
Jun 21 11:09:16 xxxxxxxx watchdog-vobd: Executing '/usr/lib/vmware/bin/vmkload_app --sched.mem.min=0 --sched.mem.max=100 /usr/lib/vmware/bin/vobd'
Jun 21 11:09:16 xxxxxxxx watchdog-vprobed: [4747] Begin '/usr/lib/vmware/bin/vprobed', min-uptime = 60, max-quick-failures = 1, max-total-failures = 1000000
Jun 21 11:09:16 xxxxxxxx watchdog-vprobed: Executing '/usr/lib/vmware/bin/vprobed'
Jun 21 11:09:16 xxxxxxxx watchdog-storageRM: PID file /var/run/vmware/watchdog-storageRM.PID not found
Jun 21 11:09:16 xxxxxxxx watchdog-storageRM: Unable to terminate watchdog: Can't find process
Jun 21 11:09:16 xxxxxxxx watchdog-storageRM: [4770] Begin '/usr/lib/vmware/bin/vmkload_app --sched.mem.min=0 --sched.mem.max=50 --sched.memSizeLimit=50 /usr/lib/vmware/bin/storageRM', min-uptime = 60, max-quick-failures = 1, max-total-failures = 1000000
Jun 21 11:09:16 xxxxxxxx watchdog-storageRM: Executing '/usr/lib/vmware/bin/vmkload_app --sched.mem.min=0 --sched.mem.max=50 --sched.memSizeLimit=50 /usr/lib/vmware/bin/storageRM'
Jun 21 11:09:17 xxxxxxxx watchdog-sensord: PID file /var/run/vmware/watchdog-sensord.PID not found
Jun 21 11:09:17 xxxxxxxx watchdog-sensord: Unable to terminate watchdog: Can't find process
Jun 21 11:09:17 xxxxxxxx storageRM: host Uuid: ########-####-####-####-########73ee
Jun 21 11:09:17 xxxxxxxx storageRM: Storage I/O Control: connection with vobd failed, error code: -1 errno: 2
Jun 21 11:09:17 xxxxxxxx storageRM: Storage I/O Control: Starting module...
Jun 21 11:09:17 xxxxxxxx storageRM: Running Storage I/O Control at host: xxxxxxxx
Jun 21 11:09:17 xxxxxxxx storageRM: Storage I/O Control: connection with vobd failed, error code: -1 errno: 2

Environment

VMware ESX 4.1.x
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Installable
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Embedded

Cause

vob propagates kernel level errors to third-party applications. vobd is a daemon that VMware and third-party applications use for monitoring and troubleshooting.

This message appears if vobd is not running when storageIORM connects to it.

Resolution

These messages do not affect the functionality of the ESX/ESXi host and can be safely ignored.

If there are storage devices with storageIORM enabled, the storageIORM application goes back to open a connection with vobd. When storageIORM is enabled on devices, the storageIORM application retries the connection with vobd.