Collecting information about tasks in VMware ESXi/ESX
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Collecting information about tasks in VMware ESXi/ESX

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Article ID: 314602

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Updated On:

Products

VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

This article provides steps to collect information about tasks for ESXi/ESX hosts.

Symptoms:
  • When there are troubleshooting issues with ESXi/ESX hosts and VMware vCenter Server, there may be differences between what vCenter Server and an ESXi/ESX host considers tasks.
  • An issue may occur when a task within vCenter Server times out. And when attempting to run other tasks, you see the error:

    Another task is already in progress.


Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 8.0.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0.x
VMware ESX 4.0.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.5
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.7
VMware ESX Server 3.0.x
VMware ESXi 4.0.x Embedded
VMware ESXi 3.5.x Embedded
VMware ESXi 3.5.x Installable
VMware ESX Server 3.5.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.0
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Installable
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.5
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.1
VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0.0
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.0
VMware ESX 4.1.x
VMware ESXi 4.0.x Installable

Resolution

Note: For more information on resolving the symptoms described above, see Restarting the Management agents on an ESXi or ESX host (1003490). If your problem is re-occurring, and you must determine which task the ESXi/ESX host is taking a long time to process.

To isolate the task, follow these steps for the appropriate host:
 

ESX hosts

To collect information about tasks for ESX hosts:
 
  1. Log into the ESX host at the console or via SSH. For more information, see Unable to connect to an ESX host using Secure Shell (SSH) (1003807).
  2. To get a list of tasks on the host, run the command:

    vim-cmd vimsvc/task_list

    The output is similar to:

    (ManagedObjectReference) [
    'vim.Task:haTask-112-vim.VirtualMachine.createSnapshot-3887',
    'vim.Task:haTask-pool21-vim.ResourcePool.updateConfig-33252',
    'vim.Task:haTask-pool22-vim.ResourcePool.updateConfig-33253',
    'vim.Task:haTask-pool3-vim.ResourcePool.updateConfig-33254',
    'vim.Task:haTask-pool5-vim.ResourcePool.updateConfig-33255',
    'vim.Task:haTask-pool6-vim.ResourcePool.updateConfig-33256',
    'vim.Task:haTask-pool7-vim.ResourcePool.updateConfig-33257',
    'vim.Task:haTask-pool8-vim.ResourcePool.updateConfig-33258',
    'vim.Task:haTask-pool10-vim.ResourcePool.updateConfig-33260'
    ]
     
  3. To get a list of tasks associated to specific virtual machines, you must first get the Vmid of the virtual machine. Run the command:

    vim-cmd vmsvc/getallvms

    The output is similar to:

    Vmid Name File Guest OS Version Annotation
    112 VM-1 [Datastore] VM-3/VM-3.vmx winLonghornGuest vmx-04
    128 VM-2 [Datastore] VM-3/VM-3.vmx winXPProGuest vmx-04
    144 VM-3 [Datastore] VM-3/VM-3.vmx winNetStandardGuest vmx-04
     
  4. Make note of the values under the Vmid column as they are referenced in later steps.
  5. When you have the Vmid, you can then get a list of tasks associated with a specific virtual machine. Run the command:

    vim-cmd vmsvc/get.tasklist VMID

    Where VMIDis the number identified in step 4.

    The output is similar to:

    (ManagedObjectReference) [
    'vim.Task:haTask-112-vim.VirtualMachine.createSnapshot-3887'
    ]
     
  6. Make note of the task identifier. In the example above, the task identifier is:

    haTask-112-vim.VirtualMachine.createSnapshot-3887
     
  7. To get information about the status of a particular task, run the command:

    vim-cmd vimsvc/task_info task_identifier

    Where task_identifier is the string recorded in step 6.

    The output is similar to:

    (vim.TaskInfo) {
    dynamicType = <unset>,
    key = "haTask-112-vim.VirtualMachine.createSnapshot-3887",
    task = 'vim.Task:haTask-112-vim.VirtualMachine.createSnapshot-3887',
    description = (vmodl.LocalizableMessage) null,
    name = "vim.VirtualMachine.createSnapshot",
    descriptionId = "VirtualMachine.createSnapshot",
    entity = 'vim.VirtualMachine:112',
    entityName = "deploy-test",
    state = "running",
    cancelled = false,
    cancelable = false,
    error = (vmodl.MethodFault) null,
    result = <unset>,
    progress = 15,
    reason = (vim.TaskReasonUser) {
    dynamicType = <unset>,
    userName = "root",
    },
    queueTime = "2012-11-28T01:29:35.233835Z",
    startTime = "2012-11-28T01:29:35.234891Z",
    completeTime = <unset>,
    eventChainId = 2936866,
    changeTag = <unset>,
    parentTaskKey = <unset>,
    rootTaskKey = <unset>,
    }
 

ESXi hosts

To collect information about tasks for ESXi hosts:
 
  1. Log into the ESXi host at the console. For more information, see Tech Support Mode for Emergency Support (1003677).
  2. To get a list of tasks on the host, run the command:

    vim-cmd vimsvc/task_list

    The output is similar to:

    (ManagedObjectReference) [
    'vim.Task:haTask-112-vim.VirtualMachine.createSnapshot-3887',
    'vim.Task:haTask-pool21-vim.ResourcePool.updateConfig-33252',
    'vim.Task:haTask-pool22-vim.ResourcePool.updateConfig-33253',
    'vim.Task:haTask-pool3-vim.ResourcePool.updateConfig-33254',
    'vim.Task:haTask-pool5-vim.ResourcePool.updateConfig-33255',
    'vim.Task:haTask-pool6-vim.ResourcePool.updateConfig-33256',
    'vim.Task:haTask-pool7-vim.ResourcePool.updateConfig-33257',
    'vim.Task:haTask-pool8-vim.ResourcePool.updateConfig-33258',
    'vim.Task:haTask-pool10-vim.ResourcePool.updateConfig-33260'
    ]
     
  3. To get a list of tasks associated to specific virtual machines, you must first get the Vmid of the virtual machine. Run the command:

    vim-cmd vmsvc/getallvms

    The output is similar to:

    Vmid Name File Guest OS Version Annotation
    112 VM-1 [Datastore] VM-3/VM-3.vmx winLonghornGuest vmx-04
    128 VM-2 [Datastore] VM-3/VM-3.vmx winXPProGuest vmx-04
    144 VM-3 [Datastore] VM-3/VM-3.vmx winNetStandardGuest vmx-04
     
  4. Make note of the values under the Vmid column as they are referenced in later steps.
  5. When you have the Vmid, you can then get a list of tasks associated with a specific virtual machine by running the command:

    vim-cmd vmsvc/get.tasklist VMID

    Where VMID is the number identified in step 4.

    The output is similar to:

    (ManagedObjectReference) [
    'vim.Task:haTask-112-vim.VirtualMachine.createSnapshot-3887'
    ]
     
  6. Make note of the task identifier. In the example above, the task identifier is:

    haTask-112-vim.VirtualMachine.createSnapshot-3887
     
  7. To get information about the status of a particular task, run the command:

    vim-cmd vimsvc/task_info task_identifier

    Where task_identifier is the string recorded in step 6.

    The output is similar to:

    (vim.TaskInfo) {
    dynamicType = <unset>,
    key = "haTask-112-vim.VirtualMachine.createSnapshot-3887",
    task = 'vim.Task:haTask-112-vim.VirtualMachine.createSnapshot-3887',
    description = (vmodl.LocalizableMessage) null,
    name = "vim.VirtualMachine.createSnapshot",
    descriptionId = "VirtualMachine.createSnapshot",
    entity = 'vim.VirtualMachine:112',
    entityName = "deploy-test",
    state = "running",
    cancelled = false,
    cancelable = false,
    error = (vmodl.MethodFault) null,
    result = <unset>,
    progress = 15,
    reason = (vim.TaskReasonUser) {
    dynamicType = <unset>,
    userName = "root",
    },
    queueTime = "2012-11-28T01:29:35.233835Z",
    startTime = "2012-11-28T01:29:35.234891Z",
    completeTime = <unset>,
    eventChainId = 2936866,
    changeTag = <unset>,
    parentTaskKey = <unset>,
    rootTaskKey = <unset>,
    }


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