How to change configuration settings for hostd service in vSphere ESXi 7.0 Update 2 and later

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0
• VMware vSphere ESXi 8.0

Issue/Introduction

This article provides steps to change the configuration setting for hostd service in vSphere ESXi 7.0 Update 2 and later.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 7.X

VMware vSphere ESXi 8.X

VMware vSphere ESXi 9.X

Cause

For previous releases, there are KB articles to change some settings of the ESXi hostd service by directly editing its configuration file at /etc/vmware/hostd/config.xml.

Since 7.0 U2 the service configuration settings are not stored in /etc/vmware/hostd/config.xml but in a special config store database.

Resolution

The settings in the database are accessible by using /bin/configstorecli.

To configure the settings:

1.  Create a temporary JSON file:

/bin/configstorecli config current get -c esx -g services -k hostd -outfile tmp.json

2.  Edit the file (See below for proper edits):

vi tmp.json

3.  Apply the file to the database:

/bin/configstorecli config current set -c esx -g services -k hostd -infile tmp.json

4.  Restart hostd service:

/etc/init.d/hostd restart

Note: 

To see all possible hostd configuration properties, run the following command:

configstorecli schema get -c esx -g services -k hostd

On ESXi 7.x and up to and including ESXi 8.0.0, use the following step:

1.  Update only a single property by supplying a JSON diff file:

configstorecli config current update -c esx -g services -k hostd -infile tmp.json

Where tmp.json contains only the properties that need to be modified.

Ex:

vi tmp.json

{
   "some_sub_object": {
      "some_property": "some_value"
   }
}

On ESXi 8.0.1 and later, use the following step:

1.  A single property can be updated by providing --path/-p and value/--v arguments to the set command:

/bin/configstorecli config current set -c esx -g services -k hostd --path /path/to/property --value value

For ex:

# /bin/configstorecli config current set -c esx -g services -k hostd --path /log/max_file_num --value 10 

Above command changes the value of property max_file_num property to 10.

2.  To check the value stored run the following command:

# /bin/configstorecli config current get -c esx -g services -k hostd
{
   "log": {
      "max_file_num": 10
   }
}

A single property's value can also be verified using get command with --path/-p argument:

/bin/configstorecli config current get -c esx -g services -k hostd --path /log/max_file_num
10

View the default hostd configuration in the config store default database:

/bin/configstorecli config default get -c esx -g services -k hostd