vCenter Server stops responding after an ESXi 5.x or 6.0 host loses connectivity to a remote syslog server

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• In the vCenter Server, you see multiple entries similar to:
  
  vmsyslog logger lost X messages

• In the vCenter Server database the vpx_event and vpx_event_arg tables grow rapidly.
• vCenter Server becomes unresponsive.
• In the /var/log/hostd.log file, you see entries similar to:
  
  YYYY-MM-2DDT<time> [FFD61B70 info 'Vimsvc.ha-eventmgr'] Event : Issue detected on hostname.domain.com in ha-datacenter: vmsyslog logger <syslog_server__ip_address>:514 lost 5 log messages
  </time>YYYY-MM-2DDT<time> [FFD61B70 info 'Vimsvc.ha-eventmgr'] Event : Issue detected on hostname.domain.com in ha-datacenter: vmsyslog logger <syslog_server__ip_address>:514 lost 6 log messages
  
  </time>

• In the/var/log/vmkernel.log file, you see entries similar to:
  
  YYYY-MM-2DDT<time> cpu10:175940058)ALERT: vmsyslog logger </time><syslog_server_ip_address>:514 lost 8 log messages
  YYYY-MM-2DDT<time> cpu12:175940059)ALERT: vmsyslog logger </time><syslog_server__ip_address>:514 lost 7 log messages
  
  Note: The preceding log excerpts are only examples. Date, time, and environmental variables may vary depending on your environment.

Cause

This issue occurs when an ESXi host is unable to connect to the configured syslog server. The events GeneralHostWarningEvent and AlarmStatusChangedEvent events continually log alert messages. As a result, the vpx_event and vpx_event_arg tables fill the vCenter Server database.

This issue can cause extreme vCenter Server latency and to eventually stop responding.

Resolution

This is a known issue affecting ESXi 5.x and 6.0.

This issue is resolved in:

• ESXi 5.5 Update 3b, available at VMware Downloads. For more information, see VMware ESXi 5.5 Update 3b Release Notes.
• ESXi 6.0 Update 1b, available at VMware Downloads. For more information, see VMware ESXi 6.0 Update 1b Release Notes.

Currently, there is no resolution for ESXi 5.0 and 5.1.

Additional Information

ESXi 5.x または 6.0 ホストがリモート Syslog サーバへの接続を失うと、vCenter Server が応答を停止する
ESXi 5.x 或 6.0 主机失去与远程 syslog 服务器的连接后，vCenter Server 停止响应