vCenter "sendmail: accepting connections" showing in /var/log/vmware/procstate logs

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

• You are observing the following event "sendmail: accepting connections" in the /var/log/vmware/procstate-*.gz

  root      1863  0.0  0.0  14524  3596 ?        Ss   <date>   0:27 sendmail: accepting connections
  root      1863  0.0  0.0  14524  3596 ?        Ss   <date>   0:27 sendmail: accepting connections

• These events are observed by the Cybersecurity team and their tools as a possible security concern.
• While running the command: "systemctl status sendmail", the following output is observed on the CGroup:

  # systemctl status sendmail
  ● sendmail.service - Sendmail Mail Transport Agent
     Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/sendmail.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
     Active: active (running) since Mon XXXX-XX-XX XX:XX:XX UTC; 12min ago
   Main PID: 1977 (sendmail)
      Tasks: 1 (limit: 9830)
     Memory: 3.7M
     CGroup: /system.slice/sendmail.service
             └─1977 sendmail: accepting connections

Environment

VMware vCenter Server

Resolution

This is an expected behavior.
The sendmail service is enabled by default on vCenter Server, responsible for sending warning and error email notifications to administrators when configured, and its operational state is logged as "sendmail: accepting connections" in /var/log/vmware/procstate.

Workaround:

If you want to disable sendmail service (not recommended), follow the steps below:

1. SSH to vCenter Server as root, and type:
   1. systemctl stop sendmail.service
   2. systemctl disable sendmail.service

Note: This will prevent vCenter from attempting to send mail and notifications.

Additional Information

JapaneseKB: vCenter の /var/log/vmware/procstate ログに "sendmail: accepting connections" が記録される