SystemMen - 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
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-ui
Next, 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 --all
And then start all services.
root@photon-machine [ ~ ]# service-control --start --all
But 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.local
And 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-pod
And 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.
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Thanks. Cut me back to half a day wasted on this problem.
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”…
Hmm, maybe so, but before the automated DNS and its protocol were devised, the “DNS” of the day was the /etc/hosts file which did the job originally, albeit completely manually. So editing the hosts file will certainly work to do the job Danie mentioned. Not sure about the other issue you mention …
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.
Same issue but on Windows vCenter server 6.5 and it saved my day. Thanks a lot.