vCenter server services will shutdown upon killing the user world 'root'.

Products

VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

The command # pkill -u root breaks the vCenter server. Services would go down immediately on the vCenter server.

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

Cause

user 'root' is required for several services on vCenter server to function healthy.

Upon killing the user 'root' on vCenter server, several services would come down on the vCenter server right away.

Resolution

Never kill the user world 'root' on a production vCenter server. This would bring vCenter server down. vCenter server will go inaccessible as several of the required services would now be in a down state.

Running:
lwsmd observability vmafdd vmcad vmdird vmware-pod vmware-vdtc vmware-vmon
Stopped:
applmgmt lookupsvc observability-vapi pschealth vlcm vmcam vmonapi vmware-analytics vmware-certificateauthority vmware-certificatemanagement vmware-cis-license vmware-content-library vmware-eam vmware-envoy vmware-envoy-hgw vmware-hvc vmware-imagebuilder vmware-infraprofile vmware-netdumper vmware-perfcharts vmware-postgres-archiver vmware-rbd-watchdog vmware-rhttpproxy vmware-sca vmware-sps vmware-statsmonitor vmware-stsd vmware-topologysvc vmware-trustmanagement vmware-updatemgr vmware-vapi-endpoint vmware-vcha vmware-vpostgres vmware-vpxd vmware-vpxd-svcs vmware-vsan-health vmware-vsm vsphere-ui vstats vtsdb wcp

/var/log/vmware/vpxd.log

[YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS] info vpxd[23534] [Originator@6876 sub=vpxdvpxdSignal] Received a shutdown request, exiting
[YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS] info vpxd[23534] [Originator@6876 sub=Default] Initiating VMware VirtualCenter shutdown
[YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS] info vpxd[23534] [Originator@6876 sub=Default] Shutting down VMware VirtualCenter
[YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS] info vpxd[23534] [Originator@6876 sub=SupportMgr] Wrote uptime information
[YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS] info vpxd[24317] [Originator@6876 sub=Http2Session #6] [StreamId #19] Stream has been reset. RST_STREAM was received
[YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS] info vpxd[23534] [Originator@6876 sub=Memory checker] Resource checker stopped.
[YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS] warning vpxd[25917] [Originator@6876 sub=VpxProfiler opID=HeartbeatModuleStart-54fdc3b2] HeartbeatModuleStart [TotalTime] took 489611 ms
[YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS] warning vpxd[24265] [Originator@6876 sub=VpxProfiler opID=ProcessTaskNotifications-32e33663] ProcessTaskNotifications [TotalTime] took 499316 ms
[YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS] warning vpxd[24215] [Originator@6876 sub=VpxProfiler opID=ProcessScheduledTaskFiring-58768008] ProcessScheduledTaskFiring [TotalTime] took 499353 ms
[YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS] info vpxd[24364] [Originator@6876 sub=HostCnx opID=CheckforMissingHeartbeats-4335866e] [VpxdHostCnx] Host connection reaper thread exiting
[YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS] warning vpxd[24364] [Originator@6876 sub=VpxProfiler opID=CheckforMissingHeartbeats-4335866e] CheckforMissingHeartbeats [TotalTime] took 490094 ms
[YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS] warning vpxd[24267] [Originator@6876 sub=VpxProfiler opID=ProcessEventNotifications-4bcfba97] ProcessEventNotifications [TotalTime] took 499364 ms
[YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS] info vpxd[23534] [Originator@6876 sub=Main] [VpxdServer] Exit done.

-> Firstly, all services need to be stopped.
# service-control --stop --all

-> Next, we start the services.
# service-control --start --all

You may also prefer to concatenate both the stop and start commands together in a single command.
# service-control --stop --all && service-control --start --all

-> OR, reboot the vCenter server to recover.
# reboot