→ Applies to: VMware ESXi 6.5 and above

The Management Agents restart may impact tasks running on the ESXi host, but not the running VM.

Restart Management Agents via VMware ESXi CLI

Step 1. Connect to VMware ESXi CLI (via SSH)

Step 2. Restart services

/etc/init.d/hostd restart

/etc/init.d/vpxa restart

Restart Management Agents via VMware ESXi DCUI

Step 1. Login to ESXi DCUI (Direct Console User Interface)

• From IPMI, open remote console
• From virtual keyboard, press CTRL+ALT+F2 (sometimes F2 only)
• Login with the correct root credentials

Step 2. Enter “Troubleshooting Options” menu, select “Restart Management Agents” option and press <Enter>

Step 3. Select “Restart Management Agents”, press <Enter> and then F11