Several hosts showing error: No coredump target has been configured. Host core dumps cannot be saved.

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

• You are seeing below alarms on ESXi/s
  No coredump target has been configured. Host core dumps cannot be saved.

• When attempting to smartly enable the dump file, the following error occurs
  Unable to smart activate a dump file. Error was: No suitable diagnostic file found

   

• When attempting manual selection of the dump file, the following error occurs
  Failed to set the Dump file: Lock was not free: VSI node (##29:VSI_NODE_system_dumpfile)

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi

Cause

A coredump file on the datastore is already locked and in use by another ESXi host.
ESXi hosts cannot share a single coredump file concurrently.

Resolution

Follow these steps to configure a dedicated coredump file for each affected ESXi host:

1. List the current coredump files:

   esxcli system coredump file list
   

2. Unconfigure the existing file if it is currently mapped to the host but locked:

   esxcli system coredump file set --unconfigure
   

3. Add a new coredump file on your target datastore:

   esxcli system coredump file add -d DATASTORE_NAME
   

4. List the coredump files again to extract the exact path of the newly created file:

   esxcli system coredump file list
   

5. Set the new file as the active coredump target (replace the path below with the exact output from the previous step):

   esxcli system coredump file set -p /vmfs/volumes/YOUR_DATASTORE/vmkdump/NEW_FILE.dumpfile
   

6. Repeat these steps for each ESXi host experiencing the issue, ensuring a unique file is generated for each host.