Can login to SC using root but not VC after fresh 3.5 install

[snowmizer]

I installed VI 3.5 on a server using a kickstart script. The script uses the useradd command to add 3 users.

useradd -m -p '<password>' -c "User1" user1

useradd -m -p '<password>' -c "User2" user2

useradd -m -p '<password>' -c "User3" user3

After the post script finishes the final configurations I am able to log into the SC from the server using root. None of the logins I created work...when I try to login I get the message "Login incorrect". I try to access this server using the VI client (logging in as root) but can't login. I get the message: "VMWare Infrastructure Client could not establish the initial connection with server "esxA" Details: A connection failure occurred."

What do I need to do to make sure that I can access this server via root in VIC? How should I add users so that I can log in from the SC?

Thanks.

[snowmizer]

After further research I have found that it appears as though the Virtual Center agent didn't get installed on my server. I have no vmware-hostd or vpxa processes listed when I issue the command "ps -A".

[Texiwill]

Hello,

A few things:

for useradd the -p option is the encrypted password string. If you did not use the encrypted form of the password then you will not be able to login. Also, if they are not in the proper xml file under /etc/vmware/hostd then those users will not be able to login using the VIC.

If hostd is not running use:

service mgmt-vmware restart

service vmware-vpxa restart

Verify the /var/log/vmware/hostd.log has no errors.

Best regards,

Edward L. Haletky

VMware Communities User Moderator

====

Author of the book 'VMWare ESX Server in the Enterprise: Planning and Securing Virtualization Servers', Copyright 2008 Pearson Education. As well as the Virtualization Wiki at http://www.astroarch.com/wiki/index.php/Virtualization

[snowmizer]

Thanks I'll try your suggestion. However, I ran "rpm -qa | grep "vpxa" and didn't get any package result. When I run this on one of my other hosts I see "VMWare-...". If I do any searches for "vpx" I don't get any results. How can I make sure that everything is installed correctly?

I looked at a sample script on the web and it shows:

%packages

@base

@everything

My script just specifies @base. Will this install what I need? Does anyone know what the @everything means?

Thanks.

[Texiwill]

Hello,

You want to take the /root/anaconda-ks.cfg from a known working ESX server and use that as the basis for any kickstart file as it will contain exactly what is needed for example under %packages I have only one addition. @everything means everything off the disk and that is generally a Bad Idea as you will install X plus a few other not so good things on the SC.

%packages

grub

Your system should most likely be installed as vmware-vpxa is necessary.

Best regards,

Edward L. Haletky

VMware Communities User Moderator

====

Author of the book 'VMWare ESX Server in the Enterprise: Planning and Securing Virtualization Servers', Copyright 2008 Pearson Education. As well as the Virtualization Wiki at http://www.astroarch.com/wiki/index.php/Virtualization

[snowmizer]

No luck. I tried modifying the packages to look like:

%packages

grub

Still didn't install the VC agent. Still getting the "unrecognized service" when I try "service vmware-vpxa restart"

[snowmizer]

I figured out what the issue was with my VC agent. Turns out it was a firewall issue related to the services.xml file. However, my users still can't log in after they are added. I have a user set up using the useradd -p '<encrypted pwd>/' -c "User name" <username> command. The user is created but I can't log in. Worse case scenario I just log into the server after it's built and set the password for the user but I was really hoping I'd be able to get the users created and be able to login using them right away.

If anyone has any other suggestions for my user problem I'd appreciate the reply.

Thanks.