Generating a vpxd live core dump to troubleshoot vCenter server performance issues

Products

• VMware vCenter Server 6.0
• VMware vCenter Server 8.0
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

In various scenarios like those listed below, you may be required to collect a core dump of the vpxd process to assist Engineering in debugging the issue.

• vCenter performs poorly, seems unresponsive or hung
• vSphere Client is sluggish or user are unable to connect or log in
• vCenter Tasks  timeout or progress slowly
• vpxd process consumes high CPU or memory (as seen in vimtop)
• vpxd logs report backtraces or crashes or deadlocks

Environment

• VMware vCenter Server 6.5.x
• VMware vCenter Server 6.7.x
• VMware vCenter Server 7.0.x
• VMware vCenter Server 8.0.x

Resolution

Generating a Live Core of vpxd

• On vCenter Appliance  6.5 and later versions:
  
  
  • Using vmon-cli
    
    /usr/lib/vmware-vmon/vmon-cli -d vpxd
    
    
  • Using vpxd live core script
    
    /usr/lib/vmware-vpx/vpxd_live_core
    

• On Windows vCenter 6.5 and later

1. 1. Open task manager.
   2. Select the Processes tab
   3. Right click on the vpxd process.
   4. Select Create Dump File
   5. The user dump is saved in %TEMP%\process-name.DMP