ESXi Host PSODs when /usr/lib/vmware/rp/bin/configRP init is invoked manually after boot

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

An ESXi host may experience a Purple Screen of Death (PSOD) if the command "/usr/lib/vmware/rp/bin/configRP init" is manually invoked after the system has already booted.

This behavior has been observed in environments where automation or scripts mistakenly execute this command outside of the standard system initialization sequence.

Environment

ESXi version: 7.x, 8.x, 9.x (all versions prior to fix inclusion)

Cause

The configRP init command is designed to be executed only once during system boot, as part of the /bin/init process defined in /etc/inittab.

When this command is invoked again post-boot (for example, through an automation script or by mistake via SSH), it attempts to reinitialize the ESXi resource pools that were already created during the first initialization.

Because the initialization routines expect to run only during the system boot phase, re-invoking them leads to an unrecoverable condition, triggering a PSOD (sysAbort) to prevent inconsistent system state.

Resolution

The fix is targeted for inclusion in ESXi 9.1.

Note:

• Do not manually execute /usr/lib/vmware/rp/bin/configRP init or /bin/init on a running ESXi host.

• Review and update any automation scripts to ensure they only restart necessary services (e.g., /etc/init.d/hostd restart) and not system init processes.