Hostd Process Non-Responsive and DPD Timeout Errors Observed on ESXi Host

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

This article addresses an issue where the hostd process becomes unresponsive intermittently and DPD services log timeout errors on an ESXi host.
The issue may coincide with intermittent syslog connectivity loss and delayed service startup.

You may observe one or more of the following symptoms on an ESXi host (for example, esxi45.example.local):

• Repeated timeout messages in /var/log/dpd.log:

• YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS.765Z Er(163) dpd[2105841]: [Originator@6876 sub=IO.Http] User agent failed to send request; (null), N7Vmacore16TimeoutExceptionE(Operation timed out)

• Frequent records in /var/log/hostd.log showing the hostd process as non-responsive:

• YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS.657Z In(166) Hostd[2104007]: [Originator@6876 sub=Vimsvc.ha-eventmgr] Event 142 : Issue detected on esxi45.example.local in ha-datacenter: hostd detected to be non-responsive
• YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS.918Z In(166) Hostd[2104019]: [Originator@6876 sub=Vimsvc.ha-eventmgr] Event 198 : Issue detected on esxi45.example.local in ha-datacenter: hostd detected to be non-responsive

• Syslog alerts indicating intermittent loss of connection to the remote log server:

• YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS.541Z Al(177) vmkalert: cpu74:2097878)ALERT: vmsyslog logger XX.XX.XX.XX:514 lost 2 log messages
• YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS.996Z Al(177) vmkalert: cpu75:2097878)ALERT: vmsyslog logger syslog.example.local:514 lost 2 log messages
• YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS.656Z Al(177) vmkalert: cpu91:2105753)ALERT: hostd detected to be non-responsive

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 8.x

Cause

This issue occurs when the management or physical network connection of the ESXi host is unstable.
Intermittent packet loss or link flaps can cause:

• The hostd service to stop responding temporarily.
• Dependent services such as dpd to fail sending HTTP requests.
• Syslog messages to be dropped or delayed.

Resolution

Step 1 – Verify Network Health

• Check NIC link status and speed using:

• esxcli network nic list

• Review switch and uplink logs for link flaps, packet loss, or port errors.
• Ensure redundancy and NIC teaming (if configured) are operational.

Step 2 – Validate Syslog and DNS Configuration

• Confirm that syslog target hosts (for example, syslog.example.local) are reachable.
• If DNS is used, ensure proper name resolution and availability of DNS servers.
• Test connectivity directly using:

• nc -zv <syslog-server> 514
• ping <syslog-server>

Step 3 – Monitor the Host

After network verification, observe the host for:

• Recurrent hostd non-responsive or dpd timeout messages.
• Prolonged service startup delays.

If the issue persists, collect the following logs and contact VMware Support or your service provider:

• /var/log/hostd.log
• /var/log/vmkernel.log
• /var/log/syslog.log
• /var/log/dpd.log

If network remediation is not immediately possible:

• Move the host’s management interface to a stable network segment.
• Temporarily disable custom remote syslog forwarding to reduce timeout messages.