ESXi host shows Not Responding in vCenter due to hostd service failure

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

The ESXi host displays a 'Not Responding' status in vCenter.

Executing '/etc/init.d/hostd status' and '/etc/init.d/rhttpproxy status' confirms that both services are stopped.

Attempts to restart the ESXi hostd service result in the following error within /var/run/log/hostd.log:

<YYYY-MM-DD>T<HH:MM:SS> Cr(###) Hostd[#######]: [Originator@#### sub=Default] error: N7Vmacore23FileIONotFoundExceptionE(Could not find file  : /etc/vmware/rhttpproxy/endpoints.conf)

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 8.0.x

Cause

The file /etc/vmware/rhttpproxy/endpoints.conf is missing, which prevents the hostd service from starting.

Resolution

Restore the /etc/vmware/rhttpproxy/endpoints.conf file by copying the contents from a functional ESXi host of the same version, then restart the rhttpproxy, vpxa and hostd services.

/etc/init.d/rhttpproxy stop

/etc/init.d/rhttpproxy start

/etc/init.d/vpxa stop

/etc/init.d/vpxa start

/etc/init.d/hostd stop

/etc/init.d/hostd start

Or 

Restart the affected ESXi host.