I am trying to re-add a disconnected cluster. There was an issue with the license, which has been recently resolved and the new license has been applied.
I have had a quick look through the existing threads and cannot find a comparable issue.
Things of note:
Specifically the vDRS has been turned off on the cluster, and at the moment it is not required (single host).
The IP address of the vcenter has also changed, it is very likely either of the license change or the recent IP address change have caused the issue (it needed to be moved to another network).
I have updated the vpxa.conf with the new IP address, and have set the port to no avail.
vCenter host has also been rebooted.
vpxa.log does not seem to be updating.
vCenter Version: 6.50.20000 Build 9451637
ESXi version:
6.5.0 Build Number 8294253
There is a firewall between the 2 however the firewall is definitely not blocking traffic between the two IP addresses.
Here is the output of the syslog:
2018-12-11T15:57:40Z watchdog-vpxa: [8456549] Begin ‘/usr/lib/vmware/vpxa/bin/vpxa ++min=0,swapscope=system -D /etc/vmware/vpxa’, min-uptime = 60, max-quick-failures = 5, max-total-failures = 1000000, bg_pid_file = », reboot-flag = ‘0’
2018-12-11T15:57:40Z watchdog-vpxa: Executing ‘/usr/lib/vmware/vpxa/bin/vpxa ++min=0,swapscope=system -D /etc/vmware/vpxa’
2018-12-11T15:57:45Z backup.sh.8456580: Locking esx.conf
2018-12-11T15:57:45Z backup.sh.8456580: Creating archive
2018-12-11T15:57:45Z backup.sh.8456580: Unlocking esx.conf
2018-12-11T15:57:50Z watchdog-vpxa: ‘/usr/lib/vmware/vpxa/bin/vpxa ++min=0,swapscope=system -D /etc/vmware/vpxa’ exited after 10 seconds (quick failure 1) 134
2018-12-11T15:57:50Z watchdog-vpxa: Executing ‘/usr/lib/vmware/vpxa/bin/vpxa ++min=0,swapscope=system -D /etc/vmware/vpxa’
2018-12-11T15:57:54Z smad[8063535]: Failed: no available HP iLO channels
2018-12-11T15:57:54Z smad[8063535]: Failed bmc_init(). Exit smad.
2018-12-11T15:58:01Z watchdog-vpxa: ‘/usr/lib/vmware/vpxa/bin/vpxa ++min=0,swapscope=system -D /etc/vmware/vpxa’ exited after 11 seconds (quick failure 2) 134
2018-12-11T15:58:01Z watchdog-vpxa: Executing ‘/usr/lib/vmware/vpxa/bin/vpxa ++min=0,swapscope=system -D /etc/vmware/vpxa’
2018-12-11T15:58:09Z smad[100962]: Failed: no available HP iLO channels
2018-12-11T15:58:09Z smad[100962]: Failed bmc_init(). Exit smad.
2018-12-11T15:58:12Z watchdog-vpxa: ‘/usr/lib/vmware/vpxa/bin/vpxa ++min=0,swapscope=system -D /etc/vmware/vpxa’ exited after 11 seconds (quick failure 3) 134
2018-12-11T15:58:12Z watchdog-vpxa: Executing ‘/usr/lib/vmware/vpxa/bin/vpxa ++min=0,swapscope=system -D /etc/vmware/vpxa’
2018-12-11T15:58:23Z watchdog-vpxa: ‘/usr/lib/vmware/vpxa/bin/vpxa ++min=0,swapscope=system -D /etc/vmware/vpxa’ exited after 11 seconds (quick failure 4) 134
2018-12-11T15:58:23Z watchdog-vpxa: Executing ‘/usr/lib/vmware/vpxa/bin/vpxa ++min=0,swapscope=system -D /etc/vmware/vpxa’
2018-12-11T15:58:24Z smad[8456832]: Failed: no available HP iLO channels
2018-12-11T15:58:24Z smad[8456832]: Failed bmc_init(). Exit smad.
2018-12-11T15:58:34Z watchdog-vpxa: ‘/usr/lib/vmware/vpxa/bin/vpxa ++min=0,swapscope=system -D /etc/vmware/vpxa’ exited after 11 seconds (quick failure 5) 134
2018-12-11T15:58:34Z watchdog-vpxa: Executing ‘/usr/lib/vmware/vpxa/bin/vpxa ++min=0,swapscope=system -D /etc/vmware/vpxa’
2018-12-11T15:58:39Z smad[8456846]: Failed: no available HP iLO channels
2018-12-11T15:58:39Z smad[8456846]: Failed bmc_init(). Exit smad.
2018-12-11T15:58:44Z watchdog-vpxa: ‘/usr/lib/vmware/vpxa/bin/vpxa ++min=0,swapscope=system -D /etc/vmware/vpxa’ exited after 10 seconds (quick failure 6) 134
2018-12-11T15:58:44Z watchdog-vpxa: End ‘/usr/lib/vmware/vpxa/bin/vpxa ++min=0,swapscope=system -D /etc/vmware/vpxa’, failure limit reached
vpxa.conf (IP addresses obfuscated)
<config>
<dvs>
<portSyncBatchLimit>100</portSyncBatchLimit>
</dvs>
<httpNfc>
<accessMode>proxyAuto</accessMode>
<enabled>true</enabled>
</httpNfc>
<level id=»SoapAdapter.HTTPService»>
<logLevel>info</logLevel>
<logName>SoapAdapter.HTTPService</logName>
</level>
<level id=»SoapAdapter.HTTPService.HttpConnection»>
<logLevel>info</logLevel>
<logName>SoapAdapter.HTTPService.HttpConnection</logName>
</level>
<log>
<level>verbose</level>
<maxFileNum>10</maxFileNum>
<maxFileSize>1048576</maxFileSize>
<memoryLevel>verbose</memoryLevel>
<outputToConsole>false</outputToConsole>
<outputToFiles>false</outputToFiles>
<outputToSyslog>true</outputToSyslog>
<syslog>
<facility>local4</facility>
<ident>Vpxa</ident>
<logHeaderFile>/var/run/vmware/vpxaLogHeader.txt</logHeaderFile>
</syslog>
</log>
<nfc>
<loglevel>error</loglevel>
</nfc>
<task>
<completedMaxEntries>1000</completedMaxEntries>
<maxThreads>98</maxThreads>
<minCompletedLifetime>120</minCompletedLifetime>
</task>
<trace>
<mutex>
<profiledMutexes>InvtLock</profiledMutexes>
</mutex>
<vmomi>
<calls>false</calls>
</vmomi>
</trace>
<vmacore>
<http>
<defaultClientPoolConnectionsPerServer>300</defaultClientPoolConnectionsPerServer>
</http>
<soap>
<sessionTimeout>1440</sessionTimeout>
</soap>
<ssl>
<doVersionCheck>false</doVersionCheck>
</ssl>
<threadPool>
<IoMax>9</IoMax>
<TaskMax>4</TaskMax>
<ThreadStackSizeKb>128</ThreadStackSizeKb>
<threadNamePrefix>vpxa</threadNamePrefix>
</threadPool>
</vmacore>
<vpxa>
<bundleVersion>1000000</bundleVersion>
<datastorePrincipal>root</datastorePrincipal>
<hostIp>X.X.X.X</hostIp>
<hostKey/>
<hostPort>443</hostPort>
<licenseExpiryNotificationThreshold>15</licenseExpiryNotificationThreshold>
<memoryCheckerTimeInSecs>30</memoryCheckerTimeInSecs>
<serverIp>Y.Y.Y.Y</serverIP>
<serverPort>902</serverPort>
</vpxa>
<workingDir>/var/log/vmware/vpx</workingDir>
Update:
vmkernel.log:
2018-12-11T20:58:11.027Z cpu13:8510156)User: 3089: vpxa: wantCoreDump:vpxa signal:6 exitCode:0 coredump:enabled
2018-12-11T20:58:11.203Z cpu4:8510156)UserDump: 3024: vpxa: Dumping cartel 8510156 (from world 8510156) to file /var/core/vpxa-zdump.003 …
2018-12-11T20:58:21.532Z cpu16:8510156)UserDump: 3172: vpxa: Userworld(vpxa) coredump complete.
Having the following error when trying to add a new hypervisor to an existing cluster in VMware vCenter?
A general system error occurred: Time out waiting on vpxa to start
This is most likely happening with the ESXi version is greater than the ones supported by your currently running vCenter.
Have a look at the major, minor, revision and build number of both your vCenter and ESXi systems. The product interoperability matrices from the vendor is unfortunately not much detailed when comes to build version compatibilities.
The ideal solution is to always keep your product up to date, however maintenance window are sometimes a luxury, even though there is no downtime involved in some organizations. If you are stuck to a point where you need to add additional host and you are behind on updates, have a look at the build version of your current hosts and the ones available for download in the previously available versions on the VMware download site. Match the same build version, or the very previous one of unavailable (in the case where you updated with the system updater, and that version is not available with the ISO images provided on the site).
NOTE : If you end up with mismatched build number, it should still work without any major issues, but not recommended by the vendor, some glitches may occur. Update everything as soon as you can under such situation.
“Timed waiting for vpxa to start” is an error message you may receive when trying to add a VMware vSphere 5.1 ESXi host to a vSphere vCenter Server 5.0/5.0 U1 environment.
![Timed waiting for vpxa to start[5]](https://i0.wp.com/techhead.co/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Timed-waiting-for-vpxa-to-start51.jpg?resize=424%2C173 "Timed waiting for vpxa to start[5]")
There are a couple of reasons for this particular error message:
1. One or more of the VMs on the ESXi host are running with a large number of snapshots. Reminder: the maximum is 32. See this VMware Knowledge Base for more details.
2. The second possible reason for the error message is that ESXi 5.1 hosts can only connect to VMware vCenter Server 5.1 instances, this can be confirmed in the VMware Product Interoperability Matrixes which can be found here. As you can see, from the matrix a VMware ESXi 5.1 host is not compatible with anything but VMware vCenter Server 5.1. So, if you want to add your ESXi 5.1 host(s) into a vCenter Server instance then you can either plan to upgrade your vCenter Server instance to 5.1 or downgrade to the ESXi host to 5.0 U1 or earlier.
Either way bookmark the VMware Product Interoperability Matrixes page as it is a useful resource and can remove the need for any VMware versioning compatibility guesswork.
Also, if you are only dealing with ESXi 5.0 and vCenter Server 5.0 (ie: no ESXi 5.1 host(s) involved) and are experiencing this error then take a look at this VMware Knowledge Base article here.
I am trying to add a new host to a VMWare Cluster.
I get the error: A general system error occurred: Timed waiting for vpxa to start"
When I look on the host, I get many events of
Refresh service information
192.168.0.51
Completed
vpxuser
11/19/2012 4:49:48 PM
11/19/2012 4:49:48 PM
11/19/2012 4:49:49 PM
But the first error is the problem:
Create user
ha-folder-root
The
specified key
, name, or
identifier
already
exists.
root
11/19/2012 4:00:20 PM
11/19/2012 4:00:20 PM
11/19/2012 4:00:20 PM
On the vmforums, the suggested solution to this does not work:
To resolve this issue:
1. rename /etc/vmware/hostd/authorization.xml to /etc/vmware/hostd/authorization.xml.old.
2. Restart the host management services. For more information, see Restarting the Management agents on an ESX or ESXi Server (1003490).
The version is 5.1, and I have Essentials license.
On the new host there are no clients running
The new host version is 799733, and it has 2 other hosts running on it, which are still 5.0.0 — Should I upgrade them first?
I got the error “A general system error occured: Timed waiting for vpxa to start” when I tried to add my newly installed esxi 5.1 server to my VC.
After some research found that my VC version was 5.0 which caused the issue as VC version should be higher or equal to the esxi version.
This entry was posted on June 5, 2013, 7:22 pm and is filed under vSphere. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0.
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- Comments (2)
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#1 by gary ryan on October 29, 2013 — 6:21 pmJust wanted to say thanks. After reading two unrelated “solutions” from vmware, I found your page, and it looks like this is my fix. I appreciate you posting it!
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#2 by Umesh Sivan on September 16, 2014 — 11:04 pmThanks..You saved my day!!!!
