VMware Communities: Message List - Web interface doesn't load - what's up ?

Re: Web interface doesn't load - what's up ?

Doug_ — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 05:32:20 GMT

Another thread with the same issue:

no login-fields at web-service, just blank
http://communities.vmware.com/message/1422899

Re: Web interface doesn't load - what's up ?

geoffbeaumont — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:54:40 GMT

hilbertglm wrote:

Of course, that's not a solution, but it may help some of you get operational again without any reboots.

Thanks - it did. But you're right, this isn't a solution (certainly not one I can ask colleagues to use!).

I'm gathering that:

There isn't anyway to use the old thick client with VMware Server 2? I know it didn't have as many features as the new web interface, but it did at least work reliably (I've found the web UI to be pretty shonky even when it is working at all)
VMware aren't interested in fixing this, since it seems to have been an issue for months (found what looks like the same problem in this thread from July).

Hopefully I'm wrong on at least one count? Otherwise I think I'm going to have to roll back to VMware Server 1, because 2 just isn't a usable solution as it stands

We're running in a fully supported environment:

Host: Ubuntu 8.04 LTS 32bit

VMs: Mix of Windows 2003/2008 server and Linux

Accessing web UI from WinXP, Firefox 3.5.5 / IE8

Geoff

Re: Web interface doesn't load - what's up ?

hilbertglm — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 16:01:46 GMT

I don't know what caused the original problem, but here's some information about getting the webAccess restarted after a failure. I was able to get things restarted without rebooting any virtual machines or the host machine. In my case, there was a broken version of the Tomcat web application server still running. I had to kill that and restart the vmware-mgmt service. Things started working again.

Specifically...

1) Try to stop the service through the service interface

service vmware-mgmt stop

2) Ensure that it terminated properly

ps -elf | grep catalina

3) If you see any Tomcat processes (they end in 'org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap start', kill them using the 'kill -9 <pid>' where the <pid> is the 4th field in the ps -elf command. For us Unix geeks, the command is

ps -elf | grep catalina | grep -v grep | awk '{print $4}' | xargs kill -9

4) Restart the service via the service interface

service vmware-mgmt restart

Of course, that's not a solution, but it may help some of you get operational again without any reboots.

Re: Web interface doesn't load - what's up ?

hilbertglm — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:46:17 GMT

I am having the same problem on an OpenSUSE 11.0 64-bit host running VMware Server 2.0.1. I increased the Java memory to 128M, but that didn't help.

Re: BUG: Web interface does not always load (vmware server 2.01 Linux)

rancor — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 20:57:40 GMT

I can just confirm that is a real big issue with this kind of error. I got 2 installations running Ubuntu Server 9.04 as hosts and both where showing this problem.

I corrected it by fix my hosts file that was broken since I moved the servers from the lab to another location. Before I have exactly the same error messages in my error console in FF.

Another issue is that Ubuntu can't handle the FF plugin for the console without crash the keyboard.

Please VMware, give us a real application for Linux that are working with all your products for adminstration of the servers. How can we test and validare the free software before we continue to the "real" stuff if this aint working? Make Vsphere client working in Linux and add support for all platforms in that client for both Windows and Linux

// rancor

Re: BUG: Web interface does not always load (vmware server 2.01 Linux)

atakacs — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 08:21:24 GMT

I can't seem to have it working at all anymore

The most irritating part (among many) is that the problem seems to occur randomly with no valid reason (although there is obviously always an explanation).

Is there a way to reliably manage a VMWare server 2.0 host (short of ssh / command line) ? If not I think VMware should simply stop offering it.

alex

Re: BUG: Web interface does not always load (vmware server 2.01 Linux)

SaturnusDJ — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 10:31:33 GMT

Still not fixed is it?
Most of the times the login does not appear and sometimes the screen of a VM (Summary, etc) won't load also.

Except from the VMware Infrastructure Client is missing, I thought (correct me if I am wrong), it is not usable with VMware Server 2.x. Only VMware Remote Console is usable to view VMs, but configuring requires the webinterface.

I 'work around' this problem by holding ctrl + F5 in Firefox for some seconds until the login shows up.

BUG: Web interface does not always load (vmware server 2.01 Linux)

Axel Werner — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 13:14:07 GMT

And once again NO LOGIN SCREEN for some minutes...

I attached another screenshot this time, showing some more interesting error message of the java/javascript application.

i guess there are BUGS within the web-if . where can i post bugreports for vmware server 2.01 (linux) so a real developer will read and examine it??

Re: Web interface doesn't load - what's up ?

Axel Werner — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 07:24:41 GMT

Quote:

NOTE: The VI client download has gone missing in the 2.0.1 version from
VMware Server, so in order to get it you'll need to download the 2.0.0
version of VMware Server.

End-Quote

No Solution to me.

Re: Web interface doesn't load - what's up ?

brianlove — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 05:12:34 GMT

FYI

get it directly from the WebUI:
https://<server>:8333/client/VMware-viclient.exe

http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-8840;jsessionid=54645C70D3C3FB63E2EBCF4382A5B2EF

Re: Web interface doesn't load - what's up ?

Axel Werner — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 12:49:59 GMT

simple!

try to manage a VM with VM-Hardware Version 6 or higher with VI client 3.x (which is vmware server 2.0.1 default if u upgrade the VMs). It just wont work.

Independend from that, the default Interface is the web If. its a MUST that this IF has to work. VMWARE should fix this first, before asking people to use their closed source crap, even if its free to use. i prefer the free vmware server , not ESXi.

Re: Web interface doesn't load - what's up ?

atakacs — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 12:47:13 GMT

Ignorance and convenience I guess...

Where do I get it ? Is it a free product ?!

Regards

Re: Web interface doesn't load - what's up ?

brianlove — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 07:28:23 GMT

why do you persist to use webAccess?

try to use VMware Infrastructure Client to manage your vmware server!

Re: Web interface doesn't load - what's up ?

atakacs — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 21:09:06 GMT

Good catch about the javascript error console - did not think to look there !

Using Firefox 3.5 here is what I see:

Error: vmtn is not defined
Source File: https://vm.myserver.com:8333/ui/
Line: 130

Error: unterminated string literal
Source File: https://vm.myserver.com:8333/ui/jslib-1.0.128374/.jslib.js
Line: 1, Column: 120
Source Code:
d(),TIMEOUT:vmtn.util.EventObject.nextId()});var $super=$class.parent.prototype;})(); (function(){var $class=new $Class("vmtn.

Error: syntax error
Source File: https://vm.myserver.com:8333/ui/jslib-1.0.128374/.wbc.js
Line: 1, Column: 77
Source Code:
is._config.getFinalData();},setSelection:function(selection){var oldSelection=

Error: vmtn is not defined
Source File: https://vm.myserver.com.ch:8333/ui/
Line: 122

not too sure what to do about it, though... Seems somehow the interface doesn't load in time (timeout) but why ?

Any idea most welcome

edited for typo

Re: Web interface doesn't load - what's up ?

Axel Werner — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 13:57:32 GMT

Just 1.5h later ive got the same problem agian, using an slightly different webbrowser (firefox 2.x)

This time i followed an advice of someone asking for the "Java Script Error Console" within Firefox.. and here we go! Massive Error Messages appearing if you enter the vmware web interface... maybe the problem is sourced here somewhere...

see these screenshots (sorry! didnt found any way to export the messages to ascii )

1st screenshot shows the way to the Javascript Error Console (german Firefox only). It should be tools / javascript error console or something like that

2nd screenshot shows (not all) the errors appearing if i enter the webinterface of vmware server 2.0.1 (linux) using firefox 2.x

What browsers are you guys using and whats your javascript error console showing at a normal case and in case of a missing login screen ?

Re: Web interface doesn't load - what's up ?

Axel Werner — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 12:00:51 GMT

Well.. i cannot say the problem is completly gone. BUT meanwhile it does better i think..

Thanks to this thread/posting and danmann's Tipp to ensure that DNS Nameresolution works perfectly does help to get things better at my site.

Again, its not completly gone it seems. within 90 days i had only 1 Time where the login screen did not appear. even then the problem just disappeared by waiting about 5 mins or so or by restarting the webinterface service itself (incl. 5min waiting after it).

Anyways.. we searched the system for usefull logfiles to debug the problem... no luck yet! we found some files, but no usefull stuff in it. no error messages at all pointing to the problem. however.. my collegue , a Java developer found one parameter vmware uses to fire up the webinterface. i think it is the "-Xmx64m" as you can see it up there in the logs of atakacs. he told me that hi thinks this parameter is set to a uncommon low level, reserving max. memory for the webapp. He said he would usuly let start this thing at least 128MB or even more. he said if you give too less memory some strange behaviour can happen and or just wont work.

THIS IS NO SOLUTION! Its just a thought, maybe a recommentation for those HAckers of you to test this.

ATM i dont know where vmware sets this parameter. but there must be a place. so maybe u can try yourself to change this parameter to some higher memory size. please report back.

regards..

Axel

Re: Web interface doesn't load - what's up ?

atakacs — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 22:56:14 GMT

Still having problems with the web interface not loading...

Syslog reports

Jul 5 00:06:04 sd-16733 watchdog-webAccess: 3876 Begin '/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/java/jre1.5.0_15/bin/webAccess -client -Xmx64m -XX:MinHeapFreeRatio=30 -XX:MaxHeapFreeRatio=30 -Djava.util.logging.manager=org.apache.juli.ClassLoaderLogManager -Djava.endorsed.dirs=/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/common/endorsed -classpath /usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/bin/bootstrap.jar:/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/bin/commons-logging-api.jar -Dcatalina.base=/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16 -Dcatalina.home=/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16 -Djava.io.tmpdir=/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/temp org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap start', min-uptime = 30, max-quick-failures = 5, max-total-failures = 1000000
Jul 5 00:06:04 sd-16733 watchdog-webAccess: Executing '/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/java/jre1.5.0_15/bin/webAccess -client -Xmx64m -XX:MinHeapFreeRatio=30 -XX:MaxHeapFreeRatio=30 -Djava.util.logging.manager=org.apache.juli.ClassLoaderLogManager -Djava.endorsed.dirs=/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/common/endorsed -classpath /usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/bin/bootstrap.jar:/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/bin/commons-logging-api.jar -Dcatalina.base=/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16 -Dcatalina.home=/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16 -Djava.io.tmpdir=/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/temp org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap start'

Any idea what could be wrong ?! This is REALLY anoying

Re: Web interface doesn't load - what's up ?

PaulGA — Thu, 14 May 2009 14:46:29 GMT

This just worked for me. Odd stuff.

Re: Web interface doesn't load - what's up ?

danmann — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 17:25:03 GMT

Make sure that the client machine you are using to access the web interface can resolve the vmware server host by name. I had this problem too trying to access the web interface like https://192.168.0.54:8333. When I updated DNS and tried https://vm-server01:8333 it worked fine. I don't seem to have this same type of problem when vmware server is hosted by a windows operating system, FYI.

Dan

Re: BUG: Web interface doesn't load or HANGS for a while on restart/stop/start

atakacs — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 08:01:43 GMT

Glad to "see" that I'm not alone with this one but little worried about the apparent absence of definite solution...

What log(s) would you investigate about this one ?

Regards

alex

BUG: Web interface doesn't load or HANGS for a while on restart/stop/start

Axel Werner — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 07:09:27 GMT

well i didnt checked for log messages. but i guess i have the same problem from time to time. I also had this with VMWARE Server 2.0.0 - same now with VMWARE Server 2.0.1 BOTH on UBUNTU 8.10.

In fact.. i DO NOT HAVE THAT PROBLEM with VMWARE Server 2.0.1 on DEBIAN 5.0.1 for some reason ! There the start/stop/restart of the Webinterface is pretty quick and stable.

If for some reason i wont get a Webinterface/Login screen i just resstart the whole vmware service ( /etc/init.d/vmware restart ) and wait for about 2-3mins until first attempt to access via web. this usualy helps me.

Im no java expert. but i guess there is something different between DEBIANs and UBUNTUs JAVA Enviroment. MAybe there someone can search for the damn Bug. Im courious why VMWARE did not realized this earlier with the VMWARE Server 2.0.0 and fixed it meanwhile ?!?!? since this isnt realy a new bug.

Re: Web interface doesn't load - what's up ?

brianlove — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 05:53:44 GMT

try to run "/etc/init.d/vmware-mgmt restart" to restart your web access, after that the web access maybe not response very soon even can not work as normal until restart your server or vmware service!

i also need a help to deal with the web access' problem!!

Good luck!

Web interface doesn't load - what's up ?

atakacs — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 23:07:52 GMT

Folks

For some reason the web management interface doesn't seem to load on my vmware server 2.01 / Ubuntu box.

Nothing really obvious in the logs except for this

Apr 20 00:07:08 xxx watchdog-webAccess: End '/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/java/jre1.5.0_15/bin/webAccess -client -Xmx64m -XX:MinHeapFreeRatio=30 -XX:MaxHeapFreeRatio=30 -Djava.util.logging.manager=org.apache.juli.ClassLoaderLogManager -Djava.endorsed.dirs=/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/common/endorsed -classpath /usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/bin/bootstrap.jar:/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/bin/commons-logging-api.jar -Dcatalina.base=/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16 -Dcatalina.home=/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16 -Djava.io.tmpdir=/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/temp org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap start', failure limit reached

tried to google this but I'm quite sure where to get started...

Any help would most appreciated !

Regards

alex