Virtual machines unexpectedly reboot after issuing the "mgmt-vmware restart" command

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Issuing the mgmt-vmware restart command on the ESX Server service console unexpectedly reboots virtual machines. This issue appears in virtual machines that are configured to automatically start or automatically shut down.

Environment

VMware VirtualCenter 2.0.x
VMware ESX Server 3.0.x

Resolution

This issue is fixed in ESX Server 3.0.1 patch release 7557441. For more information, see ESX Server 3.0.1, Patch ESX-7557441: Unexpected Reboot of Virtual Machines Configured to Automatically Start or Stop (7557441).

To work around this issue, reconfigure virtual machines to not automatically start or shut down.