High CPU utilization on vCenter Server after applying the patch 7.0.0c

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• High CPU Utilization on vCenter Server VM after upgrading to 7.0.0c patch.
• Issue is observed on a newly deployed vCenter server 7.0.0c as well. 
• Running the command "top -o %CPU" shows high CPU utilization by wcpsvc service

PID USER      PR  NI    VIRT    RES  %CPU  %MEM     TIME+ S COMMAND
28437 root      20   0  754.0m  42.9m  97.4   0.4   7947:33 S /usr/lib/vmware-wcp/wcpsvc --port 8920 --logfile /var/log/vmware/wcp/wcpsvc.log --configfile /etc/vmware/wcp/wcpsvc.yaml --audit-logfile /var/log/vmware/wcp/wcp-audit.log --+

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 7.0.x

Cause

This issue occurs due to frequent execution of Refresh License task in WCP Service.

Resolution

 

This issue is resolved in VMware vCenter Server 7.0.0d. See Download Broadcom products and software

Workaround:
Note: The following is a temporary workaround which has an impact on vcenter server functionalities. It is highly recommended to upgrade vCenter server to 7.0.0d.

There are no direct workarounds for this issue. Stopping WCP service and setting the startup-type to Manual by following below steps will help to reduce the CPU usage. But, stopping wcp (Workload Control Plane) service has an impact on vCenter server functionalities. For example, placing ESXi hosts in maintenance mode will not work if wcp service is not running.
 

• Stop Workload Control Plane (wcp) service.
  • service-control --stop wcp
• Set wcp service Starttype to Manual:
  • /usr/lib/vmware-vmon/vmon-cli -S MANUAL -U wcp
• Verify Starttype status:
  • /usr/lib/vmware-vmon/vmon-cli -s wcp
    • Name: wcp
      Starttype: MANUAL
      RunState: STARTED
      RunAsUser: root
      CurrentRunStateDuration(ms): 506629366
      HealthState: HEALTHY
      FailStop: N/A
      MainProcessId: 28437