vCenter Server experienced a vpxd-worker service termination during a virtual machine reconfiguration operation involving a third-party EMC IO (VAIO) filter installed.

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

vCenter intentionally terminated the vpxd-worker process after detecting an unrecoverable internal condition.

Environment

vCenter 8.x

Cause

The failure occurred during IO Filter (VAIO) validation as part of a VM reconfiguration workflow.
The backtrace confirms involvement of a third-party EMC IO filter during this validation:
filterId = "EMC_bootbank_emcsplitter_##########"

Backtrace evidence (bt):
IndependentIofilterCallback::GetFilterClasses
IndependentIofilterCallback::ValidateCollisionWithSpbf
IndependentIofilterCallback::PreReconfigureCallback

The backtrace shows that vCenter encountered an invalid internal condition while processing metadata provided by the EMC IO filter during VM reconfiguration. As a protective measure, vCenter intentionally terminated the vpxd-worker process to prevent further inconsistency.
This behavior is a controlled safety mechanism within vCenter when an unrecoverable condition is detected during internal validation.

Resolution

Engage the EMC  support team to review and validate the IO filter version and its compatibility with the current vCenter Server build.

Additional Information

For more information please refer to the below
Filtering Virtual Machine I/O in vSphere (VAIO)
https://techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/vmware-cis/vsphere/vsphere/8-0/vsphere-storage-8-0/filtering-virtual-machine-i-o-in-vsphere.html

Please verify the I/O filter under Host → Configure → Storage → IO Filters, check its usage under VM Storage Policies, and confirm the assigned policy on the affected VM—all from the vCenter UI.

It is recommended that keeping vCenter Server updated , especially in environments using third-party VAIO filters, to ensure compatibility and stability.