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Adding an ESXi 5.0 host to vCenter Server 5.0 fails with the error: A general system error occurred (2009217)

Symptoms

  • You cannot add an ESXi 5.0 host to vCenter Server 5.0
  • Adding an ESXi 5.0 host to vCenter Server 5.0 fails
  • You see the error:

    Timed waiting for vpxa to start

  • In the vpxd.log file, you see a backtrace similar to:

    A general system error occurred: Unexpected exception reading HTTP response body: class Vmacore::Http::TruncatedResponseException(While determining chunk size, truncated HTTP response.) with trace:
    backtrace[00] rip 000000018013d40a (no symbol)
    backtrace[01] rip 00000001800ffa38 (no symbol)
    backtrace[02] rip 00000001800fffee (no symbol)
    backtrace[03] rip 000000018008794b (no symbol)
    backtrace[04] rip 000000018003ed6f (no symbol)
    backtrace[05] rip 000000018004349e (no symbol)
    backtrace[06] rip 00000000005d2989 (no symbol)
    backtrace[07] rip 00000000005a35d7 (no symbol)
    backtrace[08] rip 00000000005a3bd9 (no symbol)
    backtrace[09] rip 000000014060f6af (no symbol)
    backtrace[10] rip 000000014061702a (no symbol)
    backtrace[11] rip 0000000140617b10 (no symbol)
    backtrace[12] rip 000000014060f827 (no symbol)
    backtrace[13] rip 00000001406187c4 (no symbol)
    backtrace[14] rip 000000000051263c (no symbol)
    backtrace[15] rip 000000000060a2c7 (no symbol)
    backtrace[16] rip 00000001400d7d20 (no symbol)
    backtrace[17] rip 00000001400d890c (no symbol)
    backtrace[18] rip 0000000180153dad (no symbol)
    backtrace[19] rip 00000001801552d4 (no symbol)
    backtrace[20] rip 000000018014dc65 (no symbol)
    backtrace[21] rip 00000000708a2fdf (no symbol)
    backtrace[22] rip 00000000708a3080 (no symbol)
    backtrace[23] rip 0000000076bbf56d (no symbol)
    backtrace[24] rip 0000000076cf2cc1 (no symbol)
    while parsing serialized value of type string at line 17, column 374505
    while parsing property "uuid" of static type string
    while parsing serialized DataObject of type vim.vm.device.VirtualDisk.FlatVer2BackingInfo
    at line17, column 374240
    while parsing property "parent" of static type VirtualDiskFlatVer2BackingInfo
    while parsing serialized DataObject of type vim.vm.device.VirtualDisk.FlatVer2BackingInfo
    at line 17, column 373871 while parsing property "parent" of static type VirtualDiskFlatVer2BackingInfo
    while parsing serialized DataObject of type vim.vm.device.VirtualDisk.FlatVer2BackingInfo at line 17, column 373502
    while parsing property "parent" of static type VirtualDiskFlatVer2BackingInfo

  • The host does not get added to vCenter Server.
  • In the vpxd.log file, you see entries similar to:

    2012-02-07T12:53:11.394+01:00 [04536 info 'Default' opID=CE9B4629-00000205] [VpxLRO] -- ERROR task-5638 -- domain-c7 -- vim.ClusterComputeResource.addHost: vmodl.fault.SystemErr

    --> Result: --> (vmodl.fault.SystemError) { --> dynamicType = <unset>, --> faultCause = (vmodl.MethodFault) null, --> reason = "Timed waiting for vpxa to start", --> msg = "",

  • In the hostd.log file, you see entries similar to:

    [FFD40B90 verbose 'Proxysvc Req00049'] New proxy client SSL(TCP(local=172.30.27.51:443, peer=172.30.27.59:59734))

    [309EBB90 warning 'Proxysvc Req00049'] Connection to localhost:8089 failed with error N7Vmacore15SystemExceptionE(Connection refused).

  • In the vobd.log file, you see entries similar to:

    [UserWorldCorrelator] 57779447099us: [esx.problem.vpxa.core.dumped] /usr/lib/vmware/vpxa/bin/vpxa crashed (1 time(s) so far) and a core file may have been created at /var/core/vpxa-zdump.003. This may have caused connections to the host to be dropped.

    [UserWorldCorrelator] 57776140380us: [vob.uw.core.dumped] /usr/lib/vmware/vpxa/bin/vpxa(86449) /var/core/vpxa-zdump.003

Purpose

This article describes a specific issue. If you experience all of the above symptoms, consult the sections below. If you experience some, but not all, of these symptoms, your issue is not related to this article.

Search the Knowledge Base for your symptoms or file a Support Request.

Cause

This issue occurs when a virtual machine on the host that is added to vCenter Server has more than 32 snapshots. Due to the number of snapshots, the vpxa process runs out of memory when vpxa runs queries on the virtual machine configuration.

Resolution

To work around this issue, remove the snapshots from the virtual machine that has more than 32 snapshots.

To remove the snapshots from the virtual machine:
  1. Connect to the ESXi host using SSH. For more information, see Using ESXi Shell in ESXi 5.x (2004746).
  2. Determine if the virtual machine is using snapshots by running the command:

    # find /vmfs/volumes/*/* -iname *delta*

    For more information, see Determining if a virtual machine is using snapshots (1004343).

  3. Remove the snapshots from the virtual machine either by consolidating or using the Delete All option.

    For more information, see Consolidating snapshots (1007849).

    For more information on cloning virtual machine disks with snapshots, see Cloning individual virtual machine disks via the VMware ESX host terminal (1027876).

  4. Re-add the host to vCenter Server.

Alternatively, you can modify the /etc/vmware/vpxa/vpxa.cfg file on the affected host to increase the thread stack size.

To increase the thread stack size:
  1. Connect to the ESXi host using SSH. For more information, see Using ESXi Shell in ESXi 5.x (2004746).
  2. Change directory and back up the current vxpa.cfg file by running the commands:

    cd /etc/vmware/vpxa
    cp vpxa.cfg vpxa.cfg.orig

  3. Open the vpxa.cfg file using a text editor.
  4. Increase the ThreadStackSizeKb value to 1024.

    Note: The default value is <ThreadStackSizeKb>128</ThreadStackSizeKb>.

    For example:

    <Config>
    <vmacore>
    <threadPool>
    <ThreadStackSizeKb>1024</ThreadStackSizeKb>
    </threadPool>
    </vmacore>
    </Config>

  5. Save and close the vpxa.cfg file.
  6. After the changes are applied, add/reconnect the host to vCenter Server.
  7. Resolve the snapshot issue in the virtual machine using the earlier procedure.
  8. After the snapshots are consolidated, revert the changes made to the vpxa.cfg file in step 4.

Additional Information

Commands can be used to find snapshot information. For more information, seeUsing ESXi Shell in ESXi 5.x (2004746).

Use the following commands to find snapshot information on the host:

find /vmfs/volumes/ -name *delta* -print
find /vmfs/volumes/*/* -iname *delta* | wc -l

See Also

Update History

07/03/2012 - Added additional symptoms and command to check for snapshots.

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