vCenter Server UI displays "no healthy upstream" due to VMware vCenter Server (vmware-vpxd) failing to start

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

• Accessing VCSA using UI returns "no healthy upstream"
• Attempting the start the services manually fails to start vpxd service
• vpxd logs (/var/log/vmware/vpxd/vpxd.log) is not updating and service start fails immediately
• Executing the command /sbin/vpxd returns "Aborted (core dumped)"

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 7.0.x

VMware vCenter Server 8.0.x

Cause

This issue is caused by the vCenter Server configuration file /etc/vmware-vpx/vpxd.cfg containing invalid or duplicate entries for the vcls runtime mode (retreat mode/normal mode)

Resolution

• Log in to the VCSA using ssh
• Validate that vpxd.cfg is not empty.
  
  root@vcsa [ / ]# less /etc/vmware-vpx/vpxd.cfg

In case the configuration file is blank, refer to Recreate corrupt/empty vpxd.cfg file

• Execute the below command to clear the vCLS entries

root@vcsa [ / ]# sed '/<vcls>/,/<\/vcls>/d' -i /etc/vmware-vpx/vpxd.cfg

• Proceed to start the services on the vCenter Server

service-control --start --all

Additional Information

Further information about the VCLS retreat mode configuration can be found in https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article?articleNumber=316514