Inventory on FSM might stop displaying ESXi node information

Troubleshooting

Problem

On an ESXi 5.x host, Small-Footprint Common Information Model (CIM) Broker daemon (sfcbd) might fail frequently and display CIM errors. As a result, syslog.log would have an error message similar to the following: Timeout (or other socket error) sending request to provider

Resolving The Problem

Source

RETAIN tip: H21638

Symptom

	Timeout (or other socket error) sending request to provider

Affected configurations

The system may be any of the following IBM servers:

Flex System Manager Node, type 7955, any model
Flex System Manager Node, type 8731, any model
Flex System Manager Node, type 8734, any model
Flex System x220 Compute Node, type 2585, any model
Flex System x220 Compute Node, type 7864, any model
Flex System x220 Compute Node, type 7906, any model
Flex System x240 Compute Node, type 7863, any model
Flex System x240 Compute Node, type 8737, any model
Flex System x240 Compute Node, type 8738, any model
Flex System x440 Compute Node, type 2584, any model
Flex System x440 Compute Node, type 7917, any model

The system is configured with at least one of the following:

VMware vSphere Hypervisor 5.0 with IBM Customization Installable Base Install, Update 1
VMware vSphere Hypervisor 5.1 with IBM Customization Installable, Base Install

This tip is not option specific.

Note: This does not imply that the network operating system will work under all combinations of hardware and software.

Please see the compatibility page for more information:

http://www.ibm.com/systems/info/x86servers/serverproven/compat/us/

The system has the symptom described above.

Solution

This issue is resolved in VMware 5.0 Update 2 and VMware 5.1 update 1.

The file is available at the following URL:

	http://www.vmware.com/support/vsphere5/doc/vsphere-esxi-51u1-release-notes.html#resolvedissuesserverconfig

Workaround

Restart the management agents on ESXi:

	http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1003490

Document Location

Worldwide

Operating System

PureFlex System and Flex System:VMware vSphere 5.0

PureFlex System and Flex System:VMware vSphere 5.0 x64

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Tips

Inventory on FSM might stop displaying ESXi node information - IBM Flex