Task "Uninstalling Namespace Node operation" remains in a "Pending" state in vCenter Server

Products

• VMware vSphere Kubernetes Service

Issue/Introduction

^{When managing a vSphere with Tanzu environment, administrators may observe the following behavior:}

    ^{1. The vSphere Client Task Console displays one or more entries for "Uninstalling Namespace Node operation" stuck in a Pending or In-Progress state.}

    ^{2. These tasks do not progress over time and cannot be manually canceled through the vSphere UI.}

    ^{3. The affected ESXi hosts may have recently been moved between clusters or placed into Maintenance Mode while Workload Management was enabled.}

Environment

^{VMware vSphere: 7.x, 8.x}

^{vSphere with Tanzu} 

Cause

^{This issue occurs due to a synchronization mismatch between the vCenter Server Task Manager and the ESXi Agent Manager (EAM).}

^{When an ESXi host is removed from a Supervisor-enabled cluster—or moved while in Maintenance Mode—vCenter attempts to decommission the Namespace Node components (Spherelet and CRX). If the host is unavailable or in a state that prevents the "handshake" from finalizing, the task record remains orphaned in the vCenter VPX_TASK database table. Because the task is no longer tied to an active process on the host, it remains in a permanent "Pending" state at the management layer.}

Resolution

^{To resolve this issue and clear the orphaned tasks from the vSphere UI, the vCenter Server management service must be restarted to refresh the task queue.}

^{Step 1: Verify the Host State}

^{Ensure that the ESXi host is no longer part of a Supervisor Cluster.}

^{Step 2: Restart the vpxd Service}

^{Restarting the vpxd service will flush non-persistent orphaned tasks.}

         ^{1. Log in to the vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA) via SSH as root.}

         ^{2. Access the BASH shell.}

         ^{3. Run the following command to restart the VMware vCenter Content:}

             ^{service-control --restart vpxd}

           ^{(Note: This will temporarily disconnect the vSphere Client; ensure no critical vCenter-level management operations are running.)}

^{Step 3: Verification}

^{Once the service has restarted, log back into the vSphere Client. The "Uninstalling Namespace Node" tasks should no longer appear in the Task Console.}

Additional Information

^{To avoid orphaned tasks in the future, follow the recommended lifecycle procedures for Supervisor Clusters:}

      ^{1. Ensure Workload Management is fully disabled or the host is properly decommissioned before moving ESXi hosts out of a Tanzu-enabled cluster.}

      ^{2. Avoid moving hosts that are in Maintenance Mode directly out of a Supervisor Cluster without first confirming the "Uninstalling Namespace Node" task has completed successfully.}

^{Related Information: Broadcom Documentation: Remove Hosts from a Supervisor Cluster}