If virtual machines on an ESXi host are not working with Endpoint Protection, or if there are alarms on a host regarding communication to the SVA, then it could be a problem with the ESX EPP Module on the ESXi host.

Log Path and Sample Message

MUX Log path
/var/log/syslog

ESX EPP Module (MUX) messages follow the format of <timestamp>EPSecMUX<[ThreadID]>: <message>

For example: 
2017-07-16T05:44:49Z EPSecMux[38340669]: [ERROR] (EPSEC) [38340669] 
Attempted to recv 4 bytes from sd 49, errno = 104 (Connection reset by peer)
In the above example
  • [ERROR] is the type of message. Other types can be [DEBUG], [INFO]
  • (EPSEC) represents that the messages are specific to Endpoint Security

Enabling and Viewing Log Files

To view the version of the ESX EPP Module VIB installed on the host, run the #esxcli software vib list | grep epsec-mux command.

To turn on full logging, perform these steps on the ESXi host command shell:
  1. Run the ps -c |grep Mux command to find the ESX EPP Module processes that are currently running.
    For example: 
    ~ # ps -c | grep Mux
192223 192223 sh  /bin/sh /sbin/watchdog.sh -s nsx-context-mux -q 100 -t 1000000 /usr/lib/vmware/nsx-context-mux 900 -c 910
192233 192233 nsx-context-mux /usr/lib/vmware/nsx-context-mux 900 -c 910
192236 192233 nsx-context-mux /usr/lib/vmware/nsx-context-mux 900 -c 910

  2. If the service is not running, you can restart it with these commands:/etc/init.d/nsx-context-mux start or /etc//init.d/nsx-context-mux restart.

  3. To stop the running ESX EPP Module processes, including the watchdog.sh process, run the ~ # kill -9 192223 192233 192236 command.

    Note that two ESX EPP Module processes are spawned.

  4. Start an ESX EPP Module with a new -doption. Note that option -d does not exist for epsec-mux builds 5.1.0-01255202 and 5.1.0-01814505 ~ # /usr/lib/vmware/nsx-context-mux –d 900 –c 910
  5. View the ESX EPP Module log messages in the /var/log/syslog.log file on the ESXi host. Check that the entries corresponding to the global solutions, solution ID, and port number are specified correctly.

Sample muxconfig.xml File

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<EndpointConfig>

  <InstalledSolutions>

    <Solution>

      <id>100</id>

      <ipAddress>xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx</ipAddress>

      <listenOn>ip</listenOn>

      <port>48655</port>

      <uuid>42383371-3630-47b0-8796-f1d9c52ab1d0</uuid>

      <vmxPath>/vmfs/volumes/7adf9e00-609186d9/EndpointService (216)/EndpointService (216).vmx</vmxPath>

    </Solution>

    <Solution>

      <id>102</id>

      <ipAddress>xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx</ipAddress>

      <listenOn>ip</listenOn>

      <port>48651</port>

      <uuid>423839c4-c7d6-e92e-b552-79870da05291</uuid>

      <vmxPath>/vmfs/volumes/7adf9e00-609186d9/apoon/EndpointSVM-alpha-01/EndpointSVM-alpha-01.vmx</vmxPath>

    </Solution>

    <Solution>

      <id>6341068275337723904</id>

      <ipAddress>xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx</ipAddress>

      <listenOn>ip</listenOn>

      <port>48655</port>

      <uuid>42388025-314f-829f-2770-a143b9cbd1ee</uuid>

      <vmxPath>/vmfs/volumes/7adf9e00-609186d9/DlpService (1)/DlpService (1).vmx</vmxPath>

    </Solution>

  </InstalledSolutions>

  <DefaultSolutions/>

  <GlobalSolutions>   

    <solution>

      <id>100</id>

      <tag></tag>

      <order>0</order>

    </solution>

    <solution>

      <id>102</id>

      <tag></tag>

      <order>10000</order>

    </solution>

    <solution>

      <id>6341068275337723904</id>

      <tag></tag>

      <order>10001</order>

    </solution>

  </GlobalSolutions>

</EndpointConfig>