Guest Introspection Linux thin agent log settings modification requires vsep restart

Products

• VMware NSX

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:
After updating the log settings for the Linux thin agent in VMware NSX Data Center 6.4.6, you see this symptom:

The Linux agent continues to adhere to old settings until the vsep process is restarted.

Environment

VMware NSX Data Center for vSphere 6.4.x

Cause

In earlier releases, Linux thin agent used to periodically scan the /etc/vsep/vsep.conf file for log setting changes. Any changes in the vsep.conf file would take effect after the scan interval.

A hang has been observed when the vsep.conf file is updated externally and the same is scanned internally. The call stack indicates a hang in the fanotify framework.

While the exact cause of the hang is unknown, avoiding an internal scan of the file appears to resolve this issue. The configuration file is now scanned only once when vsep is started before initializing the fanotify framework with vsep.

As a side effect, any changes to the log settings in the conf file requires a vsep restart.

Resolution

This is a known issue affecting VMware NSX Data Center for vSphere 6.4.6 with the Guest Introspection Linux thin agent version 8.0.0.

Currently, there is no resolution.

Workaround:
To work around this issue, restart the vsep process after updating the vsep.conf file.

To restart vsep, run this command:

/etc/init.d/vsepd restart

Additional Information

For more information, see the Install the Guest Introspection Thin Agent on Linux Virtual Machines section of the NSX Administration Guide.