vmware hostd restart fails

cd /var/run/vmware

ls -l vmware-hostd.PID watchdog-hostd.PID

cat vmware-hostd.PID
returns the PID number of hostd daemon eg 1191

Kill -9 1191

delete the 2 above PID files:
rm vmware-hostd.PID watchdog-hostd.PID

service mgmt-vmware start
OR ESXi = /sbin/services.sh start

ADDITIONAL INFO:
find hostd daemon PID
ps-ef | grep hostd
returns lines - look for the one that has hostd.config.xml in it - this is the correct PID