"Sensor -1 type,Description Memory state assert " alerts in vCenter Tasks and Events

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

To stop this alert in vCenter.

Symptoms:

• Alerts in vCenter Tasks and Events view -"Sensor -1 type, Description Memory state assert for Part Name/Number N/A N/A Manufacturer N/A"
• Hardware health alarms are being triggered with no hardware defects.
• In var/log/hostd.log we see similar entries as below.

YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS info hostd[2103698] [Originator@6876 sub=Vimsvc.ha-eventmgr opID=kbg3cv53-1515870-auto-whnl-h5:70140663-a0-ae-dd1e user=vpxuser:VSPHERE.LOCAL\Administrator] Event 1862 : Sensor -1 type , Description Memory state assert for . Part Name/Number N/A N/A Manufacturer N/A
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS info hostd[2103698] [Originator@6876 sub=Cimsvc opID=kbg3cv53-1515870-auto-whnl-h5:70140663-a0-ae-dd1e user=vpxuser:VSPHERE.LOCAL\Administrator]Sent ipmi events 0,storage health events 1

• This log shows information about the storage sensor triggering a hardware health change event.

Sensor -1 type <-- Sensor ID and sensor type.
Description Memory <-- Sensor name.
state assert <-- Health state of sensor: deassert(green) indicates good health, otherwise assert(red, yellow).
Part Name/Number N/A N/A Manufacturer N/A <-- Other information.

NOTE: Storage hardware health is not supported(except when an LSI provider is installed).
NOTE: The preceding log excerpts are only examples. Date, time, and environmental variables may vary depending on your environment.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 6.7

Cause

The health events are getting triggered for storage sensors even if the health state for it has not changed since the last polling.
This is happening because these storage sensors do not have a sensorId.

Resolution

This issue is resolved in VMware ESXi 6.7 Patch release ESXi670-202004002. To download go to the Broadcom Support Portal page.

Workaround:

1. Disable cimsvc plugin in hostd.

edit /etc/vmware/hostd/config.xml

2. Set enabled to false.

  <cimsvc>
         <path>libcimsvc.so</path>
         <enabled>false</enabled>
      </cimsvc>

3. Restart hostd.
/etc/init.d/hostd restart

Additional Information

Impact/Risks:
By disabling cimsvc  hardware health monitoring will be turned off.