VMWare Host Not Responding – VMs are Disconnected (ESXi 3.5)

virtualizationvmware-esxvmware-esxivmware-server

I have inherited a VMWare environement ESX v3i 3.5.
When I opened Virtual Centre, one of the Hosts showed up as Not Responding.

Hosts Not Responding

The error I am seeing is:

Unable to acquire licenses because license source is unavailable: The license manager has not been started yet, the wrong port@host or license file is being used, or the port or hostname in the license file has been changed.

What I have tried:

  • I have Stopped and Started the license server within the application.
    When I do this, I am able to disconnect the host in Virtual Centre and reconnect.
    This brings the host back online, but a few minutes later, the host goes to a not responding state again.
  • I have rebooted the server with the Licensing software installed.

License Server

While browsing Google, I have not been able to find any steps I feel comfortable performing and I would like the opinion of the VMWare pros.

Where are the log files I should be looking at to correctly determine what is going on?
Has anyone seen this behaviour and how did you resolve it?

Best Answer

Can you specify whether the unreachable host is a VMWare ESX 3.5 host or a VMWare ESXi 3.5 host? Both exist, and the approach to resolving this issue is slightly different.

Let's assume it's an ESXi 3.5 host...

Connect to the console of the server or use a keyboard/monitor. Press "F2" and enter your password. You can use the "Restart Management Agents" option from the "Customize System" menu. This is detailed here.

If this is an ESX host with the Red Hat-like service console, you can just login and restart the management agent services from the command line:

service mgmt-vmware restart
service vmware-vpxa restart

Try the appropriate action for the server that's having the issue.

More detail at VMWare Knowledgebase #1003490

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