Moving Cluster Host from one vCenter to Another

[SeymaNG]

Hello,

First of all, I would like to let you know that I am really new into VMWare and I have very little knowledge about it. I'm trying to seek for help from experts here.

Problem Description

I have two ESXi hosts which is configured as HA cluster under vCenter. Also, I have shared-storage using iSCSI between the two hosts. My problem is I unable to access to vCenter anymore, it's just suddenly showing error 503 on the web browser but I do have access via SSH. So, there are 2 solutions I could think about:

1. Try to fix vCenter via shell: I spent few days research and still not able to fix. So, I decided to go for solution 2 as below.
2. Install new vCenter and move cluster hosts over: This is where I need help and confirmation from this forum post.
   1. Will there be any service interruption of VMs inside each host when trying to add host to new vCenter cluster?
   2. Is there any settings I should pre-configure in advance on new vCenter? Will the setting from old vCenter come along with hosts?
   3. If there are settings I should do prior, what is the command line from SSH shell I should use?
   4. Do I have to do anything with storage or only disconnect/connect hosts?

Thanks in advance.

Seyma

[ashilkrishnan]

Hi Seyma,

I see that you have decided to deploy a new vCenter and move the hosts to it.

If these ESXi hosts and VMs are configured with standard switches and not distributed switches, there is no impact adding them to new vCenter server. VMs will continue to run on ESXi hosts and you can always connect directly to hosts via the web to check the status of the VMs.

If you are using any other solutions that are registered to existing vCenter- For ex: vRealize products, NSX, vSAN, SRM, etc. , they will be affected

Hope that helps

Please Mark Helpful/correct if my answer resolved your query

[scott28tt]

Did you post on here about your original vCenter Server?

Error messages, version information, and screenshots are helpful for others to try and help...

[SeymaNG]

Hello ashilkrishnan,

Thanks for your input. Unfortunately I have distributed switches not standard switch, would you mind advise if there will be impacted if it is the case? I guess DSwitch setting inherit from vCenter. So, moving to new vCenter will keep it running but not manageable, is that correct?

Regards,

Seyma

[SeymaNG]

Dear scott28tt,

Kindly refer to below information.

Version

   Product: VMware vCenter Server Appliance

   Installtime: 2018-07-18T22:18:05 UTC

   Summary: Update for VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.5.0

   Releasedate: May 03, 2018

   Version: 6.5.0.20000

   Build: 8307201

   Type: vCenter Server with an embedded Platform Services Controller

Error message when I access via web browser.

503 Service Unavailable (Failed to connect to endpoint: [N7Vmacore4Http20NamedPipeServiceSpecE:0x00007f7f7400b8f0] _serverNamespace = / action = Allow _pipeName =/var/run/vmware/vpxd-webserver-pipe)

And here is the error output when I try to start vpxd service.

root@vcenter [ ~ ]# service-control --start vmware-vpxd

Perform start operation. vmon_profile=None, svc_names=['vmware-vpxd'], include_coreossvcs=False, include_leafossvcs=False

2020-08-04T06:46:26.986Z   Service vpxd state STOPPED

Error executing start on service vpxd. Details {

    "resolution": null,

    "detail": [

        {

            "args": [

                "vpxd"

            ],

            "id": "install.ciscommon.service.failstart",

            "localized": "An error occurred while starting service 'vpxd'",

            "translatable": "An error occurred while starting service '%(0)s'"

        }

    ],

    "componentKey": null,

    "problemId": null

}

Service-control failed. Error {

    "resolution": null,

    "detail": [

        {

            "args": [

                "vpxd"

            ],

            "id": "install.ciscommon.service.failstart",

            "localized": "An error occurred while starting service 'vpxd'",

            "translatable": "An error occurred while starting service '%(0)s'"

        }

    ],

    "componentKey": null,

    "problemId": null

}

Please let me know if anything else I should check further.

Regards,

Seyma

[scott28tt]

Attach a copy of your vpxd.log (using the Attach function in the bottom-right of the post creator, not as a copy/paste)

Location of log files: VMware Knowledge Base

[SeymaNG]

Hello scott,

Kindly refer to enclosed attachment about vpxd.log file. Also, I notice there are history log files of vpxd within the same directory, could you please advise if you want me to attach all of them too?

Regards,

Seyma