Removing an Advanced Settings configuration from vCenter by editing the vpxd.cfg file

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Advanced Settings can be configured on a vCenter Server by selecting the vCenter object in the inventory, navigating to the Configure tab, and selecting the Advanced Settings option to add or edit existing advanced settings.

If an advanced setting that has been added to the environment is no longer needed or was mis-configured, it can be removed from the environment by manually editing the vpxd.cfg file on the vCenter Server.

 

For additional information on configuring Advanced Settings, please review the following vSphere documentation:

• Configure Advanced Settings

Environment

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

Resolution

Prior to making any changes on the vCenter Server, take a snapshot of the vCenter VM.  If the vCenter Server is in linked mode with other vCenter Servers, consult KB article 313886 for taking offline snapshots of each linked vCenter Server node.

• VMware vCenter in Enhanced Linked Mode pre-changes snapshot (online or offline) best practice

 

After the snapshot is in place, use the following steps to edit the vpxd.cfg file:

• Connect to the vCenter via SSH as root.
• If the vCenter defaults to the appliance shell, type "shell" to enter the bash shell.
• Change into the /etc/vmware-vpx/ directory.
  • cd /etc/vmware-vpx/
• Create a backup copy of the existing vpxd.cfg file.
  • cp vpxd.cfg /root/vpxd.cfg.backup
• Edit the vpxd.cfg file using the vi editor.
  • vi /vpxd.cfg
• Locate and remove the entry that is no longer needed in the environment.
• Save and exit from the vi editor.
• Restart the vpxd service on the vCenter.
  • service-control --restart vmware-vpxd
• Verify the setting has been removed from the Advanced Settings of the vSphere Client.