vc-ws1a-broker status displays as 'unknown' in vCenter Server health monitoring.

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

• In the vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA) health monitoring or via SNMP traps, vc-ws1a-broker service status intermittently or permanently displays as 'unknown'.
• SNMP alerts may report: 'vc-ws1a-broker status changed from green to unknown'.
• Manual status checks using service-control --status vc-ws1a-broker may show the service as 'Running', even while the health status remains 'unknown'.
• The following log is recorded in /var/log/vmware/vc-ws1a-broker/nginx-error.log:
  YYYY/MM/DD HH:MM:SS [error] 37#0: *8 open() "/opt/vmware/idm/health/healthCheck" failed (2: No such file or directory), client: ::1, server: localhost, request: "GET /sddc/broker/health HTTP/1.1", host: "localhost:10121"

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 8.0

Cause

This issue occurs when the aggregate health check file (/opt/vmware/idm/health/healthCheck) within the vc-ws1a-broker container is missing.

Resolution

To resolve the 'unknown' status and restore health monitoring, restart the vc-ws1a-broker service. 
# Log in to the vCenter Server Appliance via SSH as root
# Stop the broker service
service-control --stop vc-ws1a-broker

# Start the broker service
service-control --start vc-ws1a-broker