Knowledge Base

Note: For more information on resolving the symptoms described above, see Restarting the Management agents on an ESX or ESXi Server (1003490).

If your problem is re-occuring, and you need to find out which task the ESX host is taking a long time to process, you can use the following steps to isolate the task.

ESX

To collect information about tasks for ESX hosts:

1. Log into the ESX host at the console or via SSH.  For more information, see Unable to connect to an ESX host using Secure Shell (SSH) (1003807).
2. In order to get a list of tasks on this host, run the command:
   
   vmware-vim-cmd vimsvc/task_list
   
   The output is similar to:
   
   (ManagedObjectReference) [
      'vim.Task:haTask-112-vim.VirtualMachine.createSnapshot-3887',
      'vim.Task:haTask-pool21-vim.ResourcePool.updateConfig-33252',
      'vim.Task:haTask-pool22-vim.ResourcePool.updateConfig-33253',
      'vim.Task:haTask-pool3-vim.ResourcePool.updateConfig-33254',
      'vim.Task:haTask-pool5-vim.ResourcePool.updateConfig-33255',
      'vim.Task:haTask-pool6-vim.ResourcePool.updateConfig-33256',
      'vim.Task:haTask-pool7-vim.ResourcePool.updateConfig-33257',
      'vim.Task:haTask-pool8-vim.ResourcePool.updateConfig-33258',
      'vim.Task:haTask-pool10-vim.ResourcePool.updateConfig-33260'
   ]
   
   
3. To get a list of tasks associated to specific virtual machines, you must first get the Vmid of the virtual machine. Run the command:
   
   vmware-vim-cmd vmsvc/getallvms
   
   The output is similar to:
   
   Vmid        Name                  File                       Guest OS       Version   Annotation
   112    VM-1           [Datastore] VM-3/VM-3.vmx      winLonghornGuest        vmx-04
   128    VM-2           [Datastore] VM-3/VM-3.vmx      winXPProGuest           vmx-04
   144    VM-3           [Datastore] VM-3/VM-3.vmx      winNetStandardGuest     vmx-04
   
   
4. Make note of the values under the Vmid column as they will be referenced in later steps.
5. When you have the Vmid, you can then get a list of tasks associated with a specific virtual machine. Run the command:
   
   vmware-vim-cmd vmsvc/get.tasklist <VMID>
   
   where <VMID> is the number identified in step 4. 
   
   The output is similar to:
   
   (ManagedObjectReference) [
      'vim.Task:haTask-112-vim.VirtualMachine.createSnapshot-3887'
   ]
   
   
6. Make note of the task identifier. In the above example, the task identifier is 3887.
7. To get information about a particular task's status, run the command:
   
   vmware-vim-cmd vimsvc/task_info <task identifier>
   
   where <task identifier> is the number recorded in step 6. 
   
   The output is similar to:
   
   (vmodl.fault.ManagedObjectNotFound) {
      dynamicType = <unset>,
      faultCause = (vmodl.MethodFault) null,
      obj = 'vim.Task:3887',
      msg = "The object has already been deleted or has not been completely created",
   }

ESXi

To collect information about tasks for ESX hosts:

1. Log into the ESXi host at the console. For more information, see Tech Support Mode for Emergency Support (1003677).
2. In order to get a list of tasks on this host, run the command:
   
   vim-cmd vimsvc/task_list
   
   The output is similar to
   
   (ManagedObjectReference) [
      'vim.Task:haTask-112-vim.VirtualMachine.createSnapshot-3887',
      'vim.Task:haTask-pool21-vim.ResourcePool.updateConfig-33252',
      'vim.Task:haTask-pool22-vim.ResourcePool.updateConfig-33253',
      'vim.Task:haTask-pool3-vim.ResourcePool.updateConfig-33254',
      'vim.Task:haTask-pool5-vim.ResourcePool.updateConfig-33255',
      'vim.Task:haTask-pool6-vim.ResourcePool.updateConfig-33256',
      'vim.Task:haTask-pool7-vim.ResourcePool.updateConfig-33257',
      'vim.Task:haTask-pool8-vim.ResourcePool.updateConfig-33258',
      'vim.Task:haTask-pool10-vim.ResourcePool.updateConfig-33260'
   ]
   
   
3. To get a list of tasks associated to specific virtual machines, you must first get the Vmid of the virtual machine. Run the command:
   
   vim-cmd vmsvc/getallvms
   
   The output is similar to:
   
   Vmid        Name                  File                       Guest OS       Version   Annotation
   112    VM-1           [Datastore] VM-3/VM-3.vmx      winLonghornGuest        vmx-04
   128    VM-2           [Datastore] VM-3/VM-3.vmx      winXPProGuest           vmx-04
   144    VM-3           [Datastore] VM-3/VM-3.vmx      winNetStandardGuest     vmx-04
   
   
4. Make note of the values under the Vmid column as they will be referenced in later steps.
5. When you have the Vmid, you can then get a list of tasks associated with a specific virtual machine by running the command:
   
   vim-cmd vmsvc/get.tasklist <VMID>
   
   where <VMID> is the number identified in step 4.
   
   The output is similar to:
   
   (ManagedObjectReference) [
      'vim.Task:haTask-112-vim.VirtualMachine.createSnapshot-3887'
   ]
   
   
6. Make note of the task identifier. In the above example, the task identifier is 3887.
7. To get information about a particular task's status, run the command:
   
   vim-cmd vimsvc/task_info <task identifier>
   
   where <task identifier> is the number recorded in step 6. 
   
   The output is similar to:
   
   (vmodl.fault.ManagedObjectNotFound) {
      dynamicType = <unset>,
      faultCause = (vmodl.MethodFault) null,
      obj = 'vim.Task:3887',
      msg = "The object has already been deleted or has not been completely created",
   }