VMware:VM may unexpectedly reboot when using HA with Virtual Machine Monitoring

Symptoms:
Virtual Machines may unexpectedly reboot after a VMotion migration to an ESX 3.5 Update 3 Host OR after a Power On operation on an ESX 3.5 Update 3 Host, when VMware HA feature with Virtual Machine Monitoring is active.

To stay up to date on this VMware KB, please visit their website; VMware KB 1007899

Purpose:
A virtual machine may reboot itself when the following conditions exist:

• Virtual Machine is running on ESX 3.5 Update 3 Host, either by virtue of VMotion or a Power On operation, and

• Host has VMware HA enabled with “Virtual Machine Monitoring” option active.

Virtual Machine monitoring is dependent on VMware tools heartbeats to determine the state of the Virtual Machines.

With ESX Server 3.5 Update 3 after a VMotion or Power On operation, host agent running on the ESX server may delay sending the heartbeat state of the Virtual Machine to the Host. VMware HA detects this as a failure of the Virtual Machine and attempts to restart the Virtual Machine

Resolution:
To work around this problem:

1. Select the VMware HA cluster and choose Edit Settings from the right-click menu (note that this feature can also be enabled for a new cluster on the VMware HA page of the New Cluster wizard).
2. In the Cluster Settings dialog box, select VMware HA in the left column.
3. Un-Check the Enable virtual machine monitoring check box.
4. Click OK.

1. Disconnect the host from VC (Right click on host in VI Client and select “Disconnect” )
2. Login as root to the ESX Server with SSH.
3. Using a text editor such as nano or vi, edit the file /etc/vmware/hostd/config.xml
4. Set the “heartbeatDelayInSecs” tag under “vmsvc” to 0 seconds as shown here:
   <vmsvc>
   <heartbeatDelayInSecs>0</heartbeatDelayInSecs>
   <enabled>true</enabled>
   </vmsvc>
5. Restart the management agents for this change to take effect.  See Restarting the Management agents on an ESX Server
6. Reconnect the host in VC ( Right click on host in VI Client and select “Connect” )

Bron: http://vmwaretips.com

About Author

Sander

Sander Daems is founder and author of this blog and working as a Lead (Sr.) Consultant / Technical Project Lead at Unica ICT Solutions. Sander has 15+ years experience in IT, primary focus: virtualization, security and modern worksplace.

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