VMware

This Question is Answered

1 "helpful" answer available (6 pts)
1 2 Previous Next 17 Replies Last post: Jan 12, 2009 1:03 AM by dipcas  

Upgrade VC 2.5 Update1 to 2.5 Update 2 - HA Agent not working on cluster posted: Jul 29, 2008 3:31 AM

Click to view anttijf's profile Novice
anttijf
6 posts since
Dec 21, 2007
Hello,

I have upgrade my VC 2.5U1 to 2.5U2, and it works fine exept HA on cluster.

All of the servers in the VI3 Cluster have a HA Agent error. 2 of them reporting error in HA agent and one reporting that agent is disabled. I chose the "Reconfigure HA" option and that didn't help. I have tried all the tricks that I can find. Everything seems to be right (DNS, network, etc). I have even tried to create new cluster wirh HA and reinstalling agent. No luck...

In cluster level there is error: "Unable to contact a primary HA Agent in cluster XXX in XXX"

Any Ideas?

(ESX version on all hosts is esx 3.5.0 (103908))
Tags: vc, 2.5u2, esx, 3.5.0, (103908), ha, agent

Re: Upgrade VC 2.5 Update1 to 2.5 Update 2 - HA Agent not working on cluster

1. Jul 29, 2008 4:07 AM in response to: anttijf
Click to view depping's profile Champion VMware Employees User Moderators
depping
3,207 posts since
Jan 17, 2005
compare the DNS name in the VIC with the name and ip in /etc/hosts , they need to be exactly the same including capitals. Also check the contents of /etc/FT_HOSTS if that's not correct just delete the file and enable HA again.


Duncan
My virtualisation blog:
http://www.yellow-bricks.com

If you find this information useful, please award points for "correct" or "helpful".

Re: Upgrade VC 2.5 Update1 to 2.5 Update 2 - HA Agent not working on cluster

2. Jul 29, 2008 4:55 AM in response to: depping
Click to view anttijf's profile Novice
anttijf
6 posts since
Dec 21, 2007
Thanks for quick reply!

DNS (nameresolution) is working fine from all hosts and VC -machine. There hasn't been any changes on network side and HA was working like charm with older versions of VC and ESX.

I am quite sure that this is all to do with update....

You mentioned this /etc/FT_HOSTS -file, I can't find it anywhere....

Re: Upgrade VC 2.5 Update1 to 2.5 Update 2 - HA Agent not working on cluster

3. Jul 29, 2008 10:12 AM in response to: anttijf
Click to view kjb007's profile Guru vExpert
kjb007
5,624 posts since
Sep 18, 2006

That file is under /etc/opt/vmware/aam/FT_HOSTS.

Run hostname on the service console, and see if the hostname matches what DNS is pointing to.

-KjB

Re: Upgrade VC 2.5 Update1 to 2.5 Update 2 - HA Agent not working on cluster

4. Jul 29, 2008 11:41 AM in response to: anttijf
Click to view BigHug's profile Hot Shot
BigHug
81 posts since
Aug 24, 2006
I got the same problem when upgrade from 2.5 to 2.5U1. The HA configure seems got mess-up. have you tried to rename the cluster, disable HA, rename cluster name back and enable HA. It did the trick for me.

Re: Upgrade VC 2.5 Update1 to 2.5 Update 2 - HA Agent not working on cluster

5. Jul 30, 2008 3:10 AM in response to: kjb007
Click to view anttijf's profile Novice
anttijf
6 posts since
Dec 21, 2007
I have checked hostname and it's correct exept that host part in FQDN is on capital letters and in DNS it is all lowercase.

FT_HOSTS file shows only hostnames without domain, all server names are lowercase.

Could this be the reason?! Sounds odd because HA was working fine with Update 1.

I have tried to rename cluster and even creating new but that didn't help...

Re: Upgrade VC 2.5 Update1 to 2.5 Update 2 - HA Agent not working on cluster

6. Jul 30, 2008 7:17 AM in response to: anttijf
Click to view kjb007's profile Guru vExpert
kjb007
5,624 posts since
Sep 18, 2006
There have been other reports where this is causing an issue. I would delete the FT_HOSTS file, and reconfigure for ha from the vc. Make sure as Duncan stated above that the names match up in letter case.

-KjB

Message was edited by: kjb007 : added

Re: Upgrade VC 2.5 Update1 to 2.5 Update 2 - HA Agent not working on cluster

7. Jul 30, 2008 9:46 AM in response to: kjb007
Click to view anttijf's profile Novice
anttijf
6 posts since
Dec 21, 2007
Finally I got this solved! Now HA is working again!!!

HA was working on old version, but it stopped working after upgrade.

Solution was so simple that this didn't first come to my mind. On default installation hostname of ESX host is on capital letters and rest of FQDN is lowercase. (HOSTNAME.domain.com.) I changed the hostname from VI console to lowercase and after that, HA was working again....

Thanks for everyone for help!

Re: Upgrade VC 2.5 Update1 to 2.5 Update 2 - HA Agent not working on cluster

8. Jul 30, 2008 12:19 PM in response to: anttijf
Click to view vmware4u's profile Lurker
vmware4u
1 posts since
Apr 21, 2008

By disabling the VmwareHA...then re-enable the HA resolved our problem

Regards,

Marshawn

Re: Upgrade VC 2.5 Update1 to 2.5 Update 2 - HA Agent not working on cluster

9. Jul 30, 2008 1:28 PM in response to: vmware4u
Click to view michaelb23's profile Novice
michaelb23
9 posts since
Nov 29, 2006

I also had the same error after upgrading to 2.5 Update 2. The HA was showing RED on the entire cluster. I corrected the issue by turning off HA and re-enabling it.

Mike

Re: Upgrade VC 2.5 Update1 to 2.5 Update 2 - HA Agent not working on cluster

10. Jul 31, 2008 7:02 AM in response to: michaelb23
Click to view joergriether's profile Hot Shot
joergriether
198 posts since
Sep 17, 2006

dont halloo till your out of the wood, i also re enabled ha yesterday, renamed the cluster, moved em back and in again and it worked. now today i opened vc and it again showed me the cute red sign next to two of my esx hosts saying ha agent has an error. i can´t believe these kinda problems after an regular update regarding such a mission critical component !!!! vmware has to fix this issue asap!

my two cents...

Joerg


Re: Upgrade VC 2.5 Update1 to 2.5 Update 2 - HA Agent not working on cluster

11. Jul 31, 2008 7:31 AM in response to: joergriether
Click to view joergriether's profile Hot Shot
joergriether
198 posts since
Sep 17, 2006

Finally seemed to solve it, the cluster name seemed to be the source of the problem, i wrote all what i did to my blog: http://www.riether.com/2008/07/ha-errors-after-update-to-esx-35-u2.html

best regards
Joerg


Re: Upgrade VC 2.5 Update1 to 2.5 Update 2 - HA Agent not working on cluster

12. Aug 6, 2008 1:52 AM in response to: joergriether
Click to view KyawH's profile Enthusiast
KyawH
62 posts since
May 18, 2008
I had the similar problems. HA were disabled on 2 ESX servers (no red or yellow icons-only showed errors in summary tab) and 1 has an error (red icon) Tried to fix according to the posts here and somewhere eles. Called VMware support and let him fix what he thought. I spent 2 days by myself and many hours with VMware support. Nothing helped fixed. Finally I decided to reinstall the host with the latest U2 image, reconfigured everything and reinstalled every piece of agents/software etc. After spending 2 hard hours on each host, everything's fine. It is definitely a bug on U2 I guess.

Re: Upgrade VC 2.5 Update1 to 2.5 Update 2 - HA Agent not working on cluster

13. Aug 8, 2008 4:28 AM in response to: anttijf
Click to view Traincow's profile Lurker
Traincow
1 posts since
Jul 23, 2007
After 2 days of searching and testing i finally fixed this issue. Recreating the cluster didn't help me, DNS looked perfect and after reading the following release notes i was sure /etc/hosts didn't need to be edited (everything was lowercase on all hosts and in VI anyway).

http://www.vmware.com/support/vi3/doc/vi3_esx35u2_vc25u2_rel_notes.html#resolvedhaissues


*"*DNS Resolution Is No Longer a Requirement to Enable VMware High Availability on ESX Server Hosts
Previously, enabling VMware High Availability required DNS resolution of all ESX Server hosts in a High Availability cluster. This was done using configuring DNS records or by adding all of the host names and IP addresses to the /etc/hosts file on each server."


All my hosts had solid DNS by FQDN and host but when i came to enable HA i was getting the "Unable to contact a primary HA Agent in cluster XXX in XXX" error. I took a chance and edited /etc/hosts adding the following.

Before:

127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost
192.168.0.1 esx1.eu.domain.net

After:


127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost
192.168.0.1 esx1.eu.domain.net esx1

After rebooting and enabling HA it came up.

Re: Upgrade VC 2.5 Update1 to 2.5 Update 2 - HA Agent not working on cluster

14. Aug 8, 2008 7:20 AM in response to: Traincow
Click to view sheetsb's profile Hot Shot
sheetsb
325 posts since
Mar 25, 2004

I was very interested to see this post. I've tried everything here as well and also have a case open with support. I too found the only way to fix some of my problematic ESX hosts was a clean install of Update 2. I have three systems I've left untouched to see if support can find the problem. I've had the case open for four days without any success. Next week I'll probably just rebuild the remaining hosts since it seems to be a clean solution.

Bill S.

1 2 Previous Next Go to original post

Actions

VMware Beta Programs

Want to be Considered for Future Beta Programs?

Learn More

VMware Developer

Download SDKs, APIs, videos,
training, and more in the Developer community.

Learn More

Developer
Sample Code

Increase your developer productivity with VMware API sample code.

Learn More

VMworld
Sessions & Labs

Online access to the latest VMworld Sessions & Labs and online services.

Learn more

Purchase PSO Credits Online

Purchase credits to redeem training and consulting services online.

Buy Now

Community Hardware Software

View reported configurations or report your own.

Learn More

Only VMware ... Delivers Nexus 1000V

Ensure consistent, policy-based network capabilities to virtual machines across your data center.

Learn More

Communities