Serial port on the VM disconnect/disappear when the vCenter Server service is restarted

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

• Serial port on the VM's get disconnected after restarting the vCenter Server service.
• When connected to the host directly, VMs serial ports are still active.
• As the serial device is in disconnected state, operations such as clone, OVF deploy, snapshot will fails.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 
VMware vCenter Server

Resolution

To resolve this issue, add "vpxd.SerialPort.PersistNetworkBacking" "True" in the advance parameters of the vCenter server. Then restart the vCenter server services to get the changes appended.

Adding the parameter in the vCenter Server:

Connect to the vCenter Server using the administrator credentials.

1. In the vSphere Client, navigate to the vCenter Server instance.
2. Select the Configure tab.
3. Select Advanced Settings.
4. Click Edit Settings
5. In the Name field, type a name for the setting. Names must start with 'config.vpxd.SerialPort.PersistNetworkBacking.'
6. In the Value field, type the value 'True' for the specified setting and click Add and save.
7. Restart the vCenter Server services.