When making a backup of a VMWareCenter server and noticing that the VMWare VirtualCenter Server service is stopped and in the event viewer you will have the below log, it means that the SQL database of the VCenter Server is full and reached the SQL Express limit of 4GB or more.

Log Name: Application
Source: MSSQL$SQLEXP_VIM
Date: 06/06/2012 14:14:48
Event ID: 1105
Task Category: (2)
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
User: SYSTEM
Description:
Could not allocate space for object
‘dbo.VPX_HOST_VM_CONFIG_OPTION’.'PK_VPX_HOST_VM_CONFIG_OPTION’ in
database ‘VIM_VCDB’ because the ‘PRIMARY’ filegroup is full. Create disk space by deleting
unneeded files, dropping objects in the filegroup, adding additional files to the filegroup, or
setting autogrowth on for existing files in the filegroup.

To fix this, follow the below solution:

– Stop the VMWare VirtualCenter Server service (Note, this will not stop the virtual machines)
– Open the SQL Management Studio
– Log into the SQL instance SQLEXP_VIM
– Open the table VPX_PARAMETER from the table VIM_VCB and set the fields below with the value specified

event.maxAge - 30
event.maxAgeEnabled - true
task.maxAge - 30
task.maxAgeEnabled - true

Open a new Query, type and execute the following:

USE VIM_VCB
EXEC cleanup_events_tasks_proc

Once completed, right click on the database VIM_VCB and select Tasks/Shrink/Database and one the Shrink window, select OK.

Once finished, start the VMWare VirtualCenter Server service and vuala!