Error "Shutting down the VC as there is not enough free space for the Database" while starting the vpxd service.

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• You are unable to connect to the vCenter Server through the vSphere Webclient.
• Checking the service status using service-control --status --all, vpxd service shows in "Stopped" state.
• In the /var/log/vmware/vpxd/vpxd.log file, you see errors similar to:

YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS+11:00 info vpxd[7F22CD9E3800] [Originator@6876 sub=Default] Shutting down VMware VirtualCenter
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS+11:00 info vpxd[7F22BD874700] [Originator@6876 sub=drmLogger opID=lro-2-6e1be026] termCond is 0 and VC shutting down is true. Return
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS+11:00 info vpxd[7F22BD874700] [Originator@6876 sub=drmLogger opID=lro-2-6e1be026] _termCond: 0, VC shutting down: true, breaking from the while loop.
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS+11:00 error vpxd[7F2C5588F700] [Originator@6876 sub=vpxdVdb] Shutting down the VC as there is not enough free space for the Database (used: 95%; threshold: 95%).
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS+11:00 info vpxd[7F2C646D8800] [Originator@6876 sub=Default] Shutting down VMware VirtualCenter

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 6.x

VMware vCenter Server 7.x

VMware vCenter Server 8.x

Cause

This issue can be seen when one of the partitions in the vCenter appliance is full.

Resolution

• Take a SSH session to the vCenter.
• Run df -h to validate which partition is full.
• Run df -i to validate the inode space.
• Identify the partition and find the cause for the partition getting full.
• If deletion of files is not possible from the partition, refer the KB for increasing the disk space.