• The command service mgmt-vmware restart does not restart hostd.
• The script gets stuck when stopping the service.
• The SSH session to the ESX/ESXi host becomes unresponsive.
• hostd fails to restart.
• Neither of these commands restart hostd successfully on an ESXi/ESX host:

• • ./sbin/services.sh
  • ./etc/init.d/hostd restart

This issue occurs if the config.xml file, located at /etc/vmware/hostd/ and the proxy.xml file, located at /etc/vmware/hostd/ is empty or has invalid entries. This issue may also occur if there are IPv6 entries in the /etc/hosts file that are associated with the localhost.

1. Log in as root to the ESXi/ESX host command-line via the physical console or via KVM connection.
2. Navigate to the /var/run/vmware directory with the command:
   
   # cd /var/run/vmware
    
3. Run this command to list the files vmware-hostd.PID and watchdog-hostd.PID:
   
   # ls -l vmware-hostd.PID watchdog-hostd.PID
    
4. Determine theProcess ID (PID) management service. View the contents of the vmware-hostd.PID file with the command:
   
   # cat vmware-hostd.PID
   
   For example:
   
   [root@vmware]# cat vmware-hostd.PID
   1191[root@vmware]#
    
5. Use the resulting PID to kill the process.
   
   Caution: Use the kill -9 command with care. It kills the process of the supplied PID without exception or confirmation.
   
   # kill -9 PID
   
   For example:
   
   kill -9 1191
    
6. Delete the vmware-hostd.PID and watchdog-hostd.PID files with the command:
   
   # rm vmware-hostd.PID watchdog-hostd.PID
    
7. Start the management service:
    
   • For ESX, run the command:
     
     # service mgmt-vmware start
      
   • For ESXi, run the command:
     
     # /etc/init.d/hostd start

• This issue may also occur if the /etc/vmware/hostd/config.xml is blank or has invalid entries. If a backup of the config.xml file exists in the same directory, the issue may be resolved by replacing the config.xml file with this backup file.
• This issue also occurs if the /etc/vmware/hostd/proxy.xml file is empty or has invalid entries. This issue may be resolved by copying the proxy.xml file from a working host and then restarting the hostd service.