vCenter Server Service Unavailability due to Session Exhaustion from VMware Live Recovery (vSphere Replication)

Products

• VMware Live Recovery
• VMware vCenter Server 8.0

Issue/Introduction

• vCenter Server experiences constant communication errors and service unavailability.
• Inventory objects, Roles, Global Permissions, or Content Libraries may appear empty in the vSphere Client.
• The `vpxd-svcs.log` file located at /var/log/vmware/vpxd-svcs/ contains the following error:
      `Too many authenticated sessions (1000), cannot create new session`
   The log also shows:
      `com.vmware.vim.vmomi.server.exception.ServiceUnavailableException: Failed to create session`

Environment

• vCenter 8.x
• VMware Live Recovery 9.0.x

Cause

The issue is caused by the VMware Live Recovery (vSphere Replication) service account creating an excessive number of authenticated sessions. This exhausts the default limit of 1,000 sessions within the vCenter Server `vpxd-svcs` service, preventing new sessions from being established and causing communication failures.

Resolution

To resolve the session exhaustion and restore service stability, perform the following steps:

1.  Identify the Source of Session Leaks:
    Verify the session count by filtering the `vpxd-svcs.log` for successful token acquisitions. Use the following command on the vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA) to confirm if the vSphere Replication service account is responsible:
    `grep "Successfully acquired token for user" /var/log/vmware/vpxd-svcs/vpxd-svcs.log | awk '{print $NF}' | sort | uniq -c | sort -nr`

2.  Apply Configuration Fixes:
    Apply the resolutions documented in the following Broadcom Knowledge Base articles to address the underlying session management behavior:
    Exclude hosts from registration in vSphere Replication

    ESXi hosts automatically enter and exit maintenance mode post vSphere Replication upgrade

3.  Reboot the Replication Appliance:
     Note: Ensure there are no active replication jobs running

    Perform a reboot of the VMware Live Recovery (vSphere Replication) Manager appliance. This clears the existing leaked sessions and resets the communication interface with vCenter Server.

4.  Verification:
    Monitor the `vpxd-svcs.log` to ensure the session count remains within healthy limits and that "ServiceUnavailableException" errors no longer occur.