vCenter Server Appliance 6.7 startup failed after reboot. I have encountered this error today. If you also encounter the error of not being able to run VCSA after rebooting it, hopefully this article is helpful for you.
Operating environment
Table of Contents
I use a Dell R620 physical server and install VMware ESXi 6.7U3.
Next, I used a Windows 7 Pro virtual machine to install vCenter Server Appliance 6.7 version 6.7.0.42000. The vCenter domain I use is the default, @vsphere.local.
Everything went well, I was able to login and use vCenter successfully after it was installed.
But after a day, I needed to reboot vCenter and the problem occurred. I cannot run vCenter service.
Error description
I have logged into vCenter Appliance Management, the usual url is https://ip-vcenter:5480. I enabled SSH and made ssh into the vCenter virtual machine.
When I checked the status of services, the result was as follows.
root@photon-machine [ ~ ]# service-control --status
Stopped:
pschealth vmcam vmware-content-library vmware-imagebuilder vmware-mbcs vmware-netdumper vmware-perfcharts vmware-pod vmware-rbd-watchdog vmware-sca vmware-sps vmware-updatemgr vmware-vapi-endpoint vmware-vcha vmware-vpxd vmware-vpxd-svcs vmware-vsan-health vmware-vsm vsan-dps
Running:
applmgmt lwsmd vmafdd vmcad vmdird vmdnsd vmonapi vmware-analytics vmware-certificatemanagement vmware-cis-license vmware-cm vmware-eam vmware-postgres-archiver vmware-rhttpproxy vmware-statsmonitor vmware-sts-idmd vmware-stsd vmware-topologysvc vmware-vmon vmware-vpostgres vsphere-client vsphere-uiNext, I tried to start the service vpxd, and the following error occurred.
root@photon-machine [ ~ ]# service-control --start vpxd
Operation not cancellable. Please wait for it to finish...
Performing start operation on service vpxd...
Error executing start on service vpxd. Details {
"resolution": null,
"detail": [
{
"localized": "An error occurred while starting service 'vpxd'",
"args": [
"vpxd"
],
"translatable": "An error occurred while starting service '%(0)s'",
"id": "install.ciscommon.service.failstart"
}
],
"problemId": null,
"componentKey": null
}
Service-control failed. Error: {
"resolution": null,
"detail": [
{
"localized": "An error occurred while starting service 'vpxd'",
"args": [
"vpxd"
],
"translatable": "An error occurred while starting service '%(0)s'",
"id": "install.ciscommon.service.failstart"
}
],
"problemId": null,
"componentKey": null
}I have tried stopping all services with the below command.
root@photon-machine [ ~ ]# service-control --stop --allAnd then start all services.
root@photon-machine [ ~ ]# service-control --start --allBut the following error continues to appear.
root@photon-machine [ ~ ]# service-control --start all
Operation not cancellable. Please wait for it to finish...
Service-control failed. Error: {
"detail": [
{
"id": "install.ciscommon.service.notfound",
"translatable": "Unable to locate service '%(0)s'",
"args": [
"all"
],
"localized": "Unable to locate service 'all'"
}
],
"componentKey": null,
"problemId": null,
"resolution": {
"id": "install.ciscommon.cmlookup.resolution",
"translatable": "Please refer to component manager documentation to troubleshoot.",
"localized": "Please refer to component manager documentation to troubleshoot."
}
}And important services remain in the Stopped state.
Cause of VCSA 6.7 error is not running
After a few hours of searching and reading on the forums. I realized that the vCenter virtual machine could not find the domain @vsphere.local.
This is because at the beginning of the installation, I didn’t have a DNS server and I thought that using the default domain, the vCenter virtual machine would automatically set up and there was no problem. But I was wrong.
I checked the file /etc/hosts.
root@photon-machine [ ~ ]# cat /etc/hosts
# Begin /etc/hosts (network card version)
127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain
127.0.0.1 localhost
127.0.0.1 photon-machine
# End /etc/hosts (network card version)And try to ping the vsphere.local domain on the vCenter virtual machine. The result is unable to ping the domain.
How to fix VCSA 6.7 error not running
Once you’ve found clues that can cause problems. I tried declaring the domain in the hosts file of the vCenter virtual machine.
root@photon-machine [ ~ ]# cat /etc/hosts
# Begin /etc/hosts (network card version)
127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain
127.0.0.1 localhost
127.0.0.1 photon-machine
# End /etc/hosts (network card version)
192.168.1.254 vsphere.localAnd then try to start the whole service.
root@photon-machine [ ~ ]# service-control --start --all
Operation not cancellable. Please wait for it to finish...
Performing start operation on service lwsmd...
Successfully started service lwsmd
Performing start operation on service vmafdd...
Successfully started service vmafdd
Performing start operation on service vmdird...
Successfully started service vmdird
Performing start operation on service vmcad...
Successfully started service vmcad
Performing start operation on service vmware-sts-idmd...
Successfully started service vmware-sts-idmd
Performing start operation on service vmware-stsd...
Successfully started service vmware-stsd
Performing start operation on service vmdnsd...
Successfully started service vmdnsd
Performing start operation on profile: ALL...
Successfully started service vmware-vmon
Successfully started profile: ALL.
Performing start operation on service vmware-pod...
Successfully started service vmware-podAnd the result was successful, so happy. I have lost almost 1 day for this error.
Conclusion
With this article, I hope that what I have experienced and handled successfully can help you. At least, you won’t have to spend 1-2 days to solve the problem.
(This is an article from my old blog that has been inactive for a long time, I don’t want to throw it away so I will keep it and hope it helps someone).
Dung,
what is 192.168.1.254 ? the ip of photon-machine ?
Thanks
Andrea
Same issue but on Windows vCenter server 6.5 and it saved my day. Thanks a lot.
Danie: What are the logon credentials for the photon-machine? I ended up at a photon-machine logon somehow during deployment of the VCSA. But none of the details used in preparing the VCSA deployment said anything about how to log onto the photon-machine. I’d be happy to edit the hosts file of the photon-machine if I could figure out how to access it. Thanks for the insights.
Hm, nice story, but almost sound unbelievable… you said, you didn’t have a DNS server running? That should be the reason you had issues – working DNS and FQDN name for the vCenter and working reverse lookup are listed as prerequisites for deployment. And “vsphere.local” will not be resolved by any external DNS server anyway I think.
The reason your first startup failing was your spelling error, you omitted the two dashes in front of “all”: “Unable to locate service ‘all'” says it “all”…
Thanks. Cut me back to half a day wasted on this problem.