Unable to Start vSphere ESXi Dump Collector Service from VCSA VAMI Page

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

• End Users may encounter an issue where the VMware vSphere ESXi Dump Collector service cannot be started from the vCenter Server Appliance VAMI page.

• The service appears to be in a "Stopped > Deactivated" state, and the "Start" option is greyed out.

  
  

 

Environment

VMware vCenter Server

Cause

This issue due to the ESXi Dump Collector service (netdumper) is disabled in the environment. This is not the default configuration, as the service is typically set to start Manually.

Resolution

• To verify the service status,
  • vmon-cli -s netdumper

Example output:

Name: netdumper  
Starttype: DISABLED  
RunState: STOPPED  
RunAsUser: netdumper  
CurrentRunStateDuration(ms): 1540247992  
HealthState: UNHEALTHY  
FailStop: FALSE  
MainProcessId: N/A

• To resolve the issue and enable the ESXi Dump Collector service:
  • Run the following command to change the service start type to MANUAL:
    • vmon-cli -S MANUAL -U netdumper

After executing the command, the service can be started successfully from the VAMI page.