Four issues I encountered deploying vCenter and SRM 5.5 in a Windows environment - Joel Gibson presentation from the Toronto VMware User Group

1. USER PRESENTATION
Issues Encountered while Migrating to vCenter and SRM
5.5

2. WHO AM I?
• solution architect
• virtualization specialist
• newbie blogger
• geek by nature :-)
• tech enthusiast
Joel Gibson
@empiricvirtual
empiricvirtualization.com
joel.gibson at live.ca

3. WHY ME?
• Scott Lowe: Putting the User Back in VMware User
Group (http://bit.ly/TpPSBm)
• Cody Bunch: On Putting the User Back Into User
Group (http://bit.ly/1jKePhn)

4. –Louis L’Amour
“Knowledge is like money: to be of value it must
circulate, and in circulating it can increase in
quantity and, hopefully, in value.”
COMMUNITY

5. SURVEY
• Which version of vCenter Server?
• vCenter Server Appliance?
• Site Recovery Manager?

6. VCENTER SERVER 5.5
• Released September 2013 [reference vSphere 5.5 release notes]
• New features:
• Single Sign-On Overhauled
• VCSA supports up to 100 hosts, or 3000 VMs
• App HA
• 62 TB VMDKs and RDMs
• Improved interoperability of Storage vMotion and SDRS with vSphere
Replication
• and many more …

7. ISSUES ENCOUNTERED WHILE
MIGRATING TO
VCENTER AND SRM 5.5

8. ENVIRONMENT
• vCenter Server 5.5
• Site Recovery Manager 5.5
• Windows Server 2012
• SQL Server 2012 R2

9. Logging-in to a Fresh Install of vCenter Server
5.5
using Domain Credentials
• posts within the community [1][2] referred to an issue:
• the only user that could log-in to a fresh install of
vCenter server was the SSO administrator
(administrator@vsphere.local)
• in my initial testing, I had not encountered this problem
• then found the problem in my home lab
References
[1] “How to log in to Single Sign ON SSO in vSphere 5.5.” [Online]. Available: http://www.vfrank.org/2013/09/23/how-to-log-in-to-single-sign-on-sso-in-vsphere-5-5/. [Accessed: 17-Jan–2014].
[2] “vSphere 5.5 vCenter server inventory 0 - frankdenneman.nl.” [Online]. Available: http://frankdenneman.nl/2014/01/16/vsphere-5-5-vcenter-server-0-inventory/. [Accessed: 17-Jan–2014].
PROBLEM DESCRIPTION:

10. Logging-in to a Fresh Install of vCenter Server
5.5
using Domain Credentials
Scenario
1
Scenario
2
SYMPTOM:

11. Logging-in to a Fresh Install of vCenter Server
5.5
using Domain Credentials
Build
1312299
Build
1476387
SYMPTOM:

12. Logging-in to a Fresh Install of vCenter Server
5.5
using Domain Credentials
Excerpt from VMware's vCenter Server 5.5.0b release notes:
“Active Directory is not added automatically as identity resource in vCenter Single
Sign-On
When you initially install the vCenter Single Sign-On in a Windows system that is
part of an Active Directory, the Active Directory is not automatically added as the
default identity resource in the vCenter Single Sign-On server.
This issue is resolved in this release [3].”
References
[3] “vCenter Server 5.5.0b Release Notes.” [Online]. Available: https://www.vmware.com/support/vsphere5/doc/vsphere-vcenter-server-550b-release-notes.html#resolvedissuessso. [Accessed: 24-Jan-2014].

13. 1. Determine which AD (Active
Directory) user or group should
initially be granted administrative
access to the vCenter.
2. Verify you are using Build
1476387 or newer. (5.5.0b+)
3. During the installation of vCenter
Single Sign-On, verify that SSO
detects the domain that you would
like as the native identity source.
4. Finally, during the installation of
vCenter Server, change the
default administrator.
Logging-in to a Fresh Install of vCenter Server
5.5
using Domain Credentials
SOLUTION:

14. Logging-in to a Fresh Install of vCenter Server
5.5
using Domain Credentials
RESULT:

15. Connecting to vSphere Web Client Fails
• HTTP Error 404
SYMPTOM:

16. 1. Uninstall vSphere Web Client.
2. When installing the vSphere Web Client,
maintain the default installation directory.
• Avoid installing this component to an
alternate drive (i.e. D:) or location, or a
directory path containing spaces [4].
SOLUTION:
References
[4] “VMware KB: Connecting to vSphere Web Client fails with the error: HTTP Status 404.” [Online]. Available:
http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=2044953. [Accessed: 09-Apr–2014].
Connecting to vSphere Web Client Fails

17. Encountered a Perl Error While Installing SRM
• SRM installation fails with the following message: “Failed
to update Perl installation directories…”
SYMPTOM:

18. • When specifying the installation directory for SRM,
avoid using long path names or spaces. Instead,
use short paths: (i.e. D:SRM) [5].
SOLUTION:
References
[5] “VMware KB: Installing Site Recovery Manager fails with the error: Failed to update Perl installation directories.” [Online]. Available:
http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1028918. [Accessed: 09-Apr–2014].
Encountered a Perl Error While Installing SRM

19. Storage Monitoring Service Fails
• This issue can present itself in a few different ways:
• very evident when looking at the overall health of the vCenter Server from the Server
Status screen.
• storage view tab reports an error [6]
• vws.log file contains error:
• “tomcat-http--40 ERROR com.vmware.vim.health.VcAuthorize] VC
session has expired and could not be authenticated [6]”
• “com.vmware.vim.binding.vim.fault.NotAuthenticated: The session
is not authenticated. [6]”
SYMPTOM:

20. • This may be encountered when a custom service
account is being used to start the vCenter Server,
instead of the default Local System account.
• Ensure that the VMware vSphere Profile-Drive
Storage Service is also being run using the same
service account as the VMware VirtualCenter
Service [6].
SOLUTION:
References
[6] “VMware KB: VMware vCenter Storage Monitoring Service fails with the error: Service initialization failed after upgrading to vCenter 5.5.” [Online]. Available:
http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=2060967. [Accessed: 09-Apr–2014].
Storage Monitoring Service Fails

21. Update Manager Fails to Start
(specific to SQL Server 2012)
• The VMware Update Manager service fails to start when using an SQL Server 2012
database.
• The vmware-vum-server.log file contains the following messages:
“013-05-20T12:03:57.325+01:00 [05032 error 'Default'] Unable to
allocate memory: 4294967294 bytes
013-05-20T12:03:57.332+01:00 [05032 info 'Default'] CoreDump:
Writing minidump
013-05-20T12:03:57.406+01:00 [05032 panic 'Default']
Panic: Unable to allocate memory [7]”
SYMPTOM:

22. • After installing VUM using the native ODBC client, I was able to initially
connect to Update Manager using the the vSphere Client; however, at
some point I began to consistently see this issue.
• To work around this, I removed the native SQL Server ODBC DSN for
the VUM database, and replaced it with the non-native client.
• This solution may seem a bit counter intuitive, but it is based on a
VMware KB [7].
• However, you may experience issues when you go to upgrade VUM in
the future, as the native client is required to successfully install VUM.
SOLUTION:
References
[7] “VMware KB: VMware vSphere Update Manager 5.x fails to start when using SQL Server 2012.” [Online]. Available:
http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=2050256. [Accessed: 09-Apr–2014].
Update Manager Fails to Start
(specific to SQL Server 2012)

23. QUESTIONS?
Thank You