vCenter Server vpxd service crashes with core.vpxd-worker.* dumps are generated during Host Profile remediation onto newly added ESXi hosts .

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

The vCenter Server vpxd service crashes and halts immediately when attempting to remediate a Host Profile onto ESXi hosts. Multiple core.vpxd-worker.* dumps are generated in /var/core/ on the vCenter Server Appliance matching the exact timestamps of the remediation attempts.  

Environment

vCenter 8.0.x

Cause

The vCenter Server database (VCDB) contains a corrupted Host Profile missing critical compliance expression structures. When the vpxd service evaluates this null object to generate the host configuration task spec, it triggers a fatal __GI_abort and halts the service immediately. This database corruption can manifest during SSH key mismatch resolution attempts with a similar issue vCenter Server crashes during host profile remediation

Resolution

 

1. Capture a full file-based backup or offline snapshot of the vCenter Server Appliance.

2. Cease all remediation tasks utilizing the corrupted Host Profile.

3. Detach the corrupted Host Profile from all associated clusters and ESXi hosts via the vSphere Client.

4. Delete the corrupted Host Profile entirely from the vCenter Server inventory to clear the invalid database entries from the VCDB.

5. Extract a new Host Profile from a known-compliant reference host running an ESXi build version identical to the target hosts.

6. Attach the newly generated profile to the cluster and execute the remediation task.