How to run vSphere HA agent remove script in ESXi

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

vSphere HA agent should normally install in vSphere through unconfiguring then reconfiguring vSphere High Availability (vSphere HA) in vCenter Server at the cluster level or at the ESXi host level.

Problems with this not working can often be solved by manually uninstalling, then reinstalling, the vSphere HA agent directly on an affected ESXi host. The VMware-fdm-uninstall.sh script may assist with cleanly removing the vSphere HA agent VIB and related configuration files.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 6.5

VMware vSphere ESXi 6.7

VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0

VMware vSphere ESXi 8.0

Resolution

 

1. Place the ESXI host in Maintenance Mode.
2. Disable Lockdown Mode on all hosts in the cluster.
3. Connect to the ESXi host with SSH
4. Run the command to confirm the HA agent is installed: 
   1. esxcli software vib list | grep fdm
5. Run these commands to run a script that will properly remove FDM agent and configuration files from the ESXi host: 
   1. cp /opt/vmware/uninstallers/VMware-fdm-uninstall.sh /tmp
   2. cd /tmp
   3. chmod +rx VMware-fdm-uninstall.sh
   4. ./VMware-fdm-uninstall.sh
6. If the script fails, the command to attempt to remove the vSphere HA VIB manually is: 
   1. esxcli software vib remove -n vmware-fdm
7. Exit maintenance mode.
8. Check the status of HA using the Web client to confirm that HA is not working. If there are error messages at this stage, note these and refer to VMware documentation or contact VMware support for further troubleshooting.

Additional Information

FDM stands for Fault Domain Manager. This was the original name for the vSphere HA feature.

Error: "vSphere HA agent cannot be correctly installed or configured"