ESXi memory swap out values are non-zero in vCenter/vROPS but zero in esxtop

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

vCenter Server or Aria Operations (vROPS) reports a constant non-zero value for "Memory Swap Out" for an ESXi host.

However, the host is not under memory pressure, and command-line tools show no Swap as per checked from esxtop command (SWCUR, SWR/s, and SWW/s are 0).

 

Environment

VMware vSphere 8

Cause

This is a cosmetic display issue with no performance impact.

Resolution

 

Verify the host is not actually swapping by running esxtop (press 'm' for memory) and checking that SWCUR, SWR/s, and SWW/s are 0.

To clear the stale display:

a. Place the host in Maintenance Mode.

b. Restart management agents via SSH: /etc/init.d/hostd restart && /etc/init.d/vpxa restart.

c. If the issue persists, reboot the ESXi host.

d. If the issue persists, reboot vCenter Server after taking a snapshot with memory.

e. Customer can also choose to do nothing and ignore the current displayed ESXi memory swap out value in vCenter & vROPS because it is just display issue and no performance impact.
    And when they do ESXi & vCenter maintenance for other thing next time, the non-zero value will disappear after an ESXi & vCenter reboot.