Reconnecting an ESXi Host to vCenter Server fails with the error: Rejected password for user vpxuser

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• Host(s) might show in disconnected status in vCenter Server.
• Attempting to reconnect a host to vCenter Server might throw below error:

A general system error: Timed out while waiting for vpxa to start

• The hostd.log on the ESXi host(s) contains errors similar to below:

/var/run/log/hostd.log

YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss Wa(164) Hostd[2098778]: [Originator@6876 sub=Vimsvc.HaSessionManager opID=WorkQueue-44a1be11-5c56 sid=52d50###] Rejected password for user vpxuser from <vCenter_ip> - session=#####
YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss In(166) Hostd[2098778]: [Originator@6876 sub=Vimsvc.ha-eventmgr opID-WorkQueue-44a1be11-5c56 sid-52d50###] Event 5619 : Cannot login vpxuser@<vCenter_ip>

• Disconnecting and reconnecting the ESXi host(s) as per Host Summary page reports, Cannot synchronize host or Quick stats on <Hostname> is not up-to-date. and does not help in connecting the ESXi Host(s) back to vCenter Server

Environment

VMware vSphere 6.x, 7.x, 8.x

Cause

This issue occurs when there is a mismatch between cached password for vpxuser on the host and the vCenter database or the account has expired.

 

 

 

Resolution

To resolve the issue, follow the below steps

• Disconnect the host(s) from the vCenter Server.
• Connect to the host(s) through SSH and stop the vpxa service:

/etc/init.d/vpxa stop

• Delete the vpxuser :

esxcli system account remove -i vpxuser

In case of error "Access to perform the operation was denied" restart the hostd service by following below commands:

/etc/init.d/hostd stop

/etc/init.d/hostd start 

• Start the vpxa service:

/etc/init.d/vpxa start

• Reconnect the ESXi host(s) in vCenter Server using the respective root credentials
  

If the ESXi host reconnect is failing, please refer ESXi host fails to reconnect to vCenter with the error 'The operation is not allowed in the current state'.

To further change the expiry duration of the vpxuser account, refer Configure Expiry Settings for the vpxuser Account