Stop, Start or Restart Services on vCenter Server 7.x/8.x

Products

• VMware vCenter Server 7.0
• VMware vCenter Server 8.0

Issue/Introduction

This article provides steps to stop, start, or restart vCenter Server services.

 

For troubleshooting and maintenance purposes, it is necessary to change the status of VMware vCenter Server services such as VMware Virtual Center Server, VMware vSphere Client, or VMware Directory Service.

Environment

• VMware vCenter Server 7.x 
• VMware vCenter Server 8.x

Resolution

• • In VMware vCenter Server 7.x and higher, VMware recommends to use the  vCenter Server Management Interface (VAMI)  or Service Control command-line tool to stop, start, or restart vCenter Server services.

    • For more information about VCSA see, Stopping, Starting or Restarting VMware vCenter Server Appliance services (344633)

     

    Starting/Stopping/Restarting vCenter Server Services Using the GUI:

    1. Log in to the vCenter Server Management Interface (VAMI) with root account.
       
       VAMI URL : https://<appliance-IP-address-or-FQDN>:5480
       
       
    2. Open Services to view the list of all services state within the vCenter Server system.
    3. Check the service you would like to change running state and click START/STOP/RESTART.

     

    Start/Stop/Restart Services on a vCenter Server Appliance Using the CLI:

    1. Run this command to list the vCenter Server services and their statuses:
       
       service-control –-status --all
       
       
    2. Run this command to:
    5. • Start a specific service: service-control --start <service_name>
       • Start all services: service-control --start --all

    To perform a dry run of the command, this displays the actions that command run without executing the actions: service-control --start --all --dry-run

    • • Stop a specific service: service-control --stop <service_name>
      • Stop all services: service-control --stop --all

    To perform a dry run of the command:

    • service-control --stop --all --dry-run
    •  
    • Restart all services at once: service-control --stop --all && service-control --start --all