VPXD crash, core dump created when using a non-standard vCenter hardware configuration

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

• vpxd service faces a crash. Error::
  • Memory exceeds hard limit. Panic
• More than 24 vCPUs are assigned, or the vCenter hardware configuration otherwise does not conform to Hardware Requirements for the vCenter Server Appliance

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 8.x

Cause

Increasing the number of vCPUs will have direct impact to vpxd memory usage:
The more vCPUs => the more glibc malloc arenas will be allocated in vpxd (vCPUs * 8) => more slack / fragmentation in each memory arena => more likely for vpxd to go OOM even if it has plenty of memory left.

Resolution

Use a supported hardware configuration listed in TechDocs: System Requirements for the vCenter Server Appliance