Migrate vCenter Appliance to new one (Old is broken)

[Fluckiger]

Hello,

We have an infrastructure composed of the following elements

2 ESXi 6.7
1 SAN
1 vCenter Appliance 6.7

Each ESXi runs about 10 VMs.

We now have a problem with our vCenter which is no longer accessible via the management interface. Some services like "vmware-vcenter" don't want to restart anymore.

We have already tried restoring but it is impossible to restart.

We then decided to mount a new vCenter in version 7. This one works correctly.

The VMWare world is new for us...

Is it possible to migrate data from the old vCenter to the new one? (Datastore, vSwitch, etc..) Taking into account that the old one is not accessible anymore?

Thank you in advance.

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[fabio1975]

Ciao 

Do you have a backup of the vcenter 6.7 data (not the VM backup of the Virtual Appliance but the backup generated by the internal tool)?
If you proceed with the creation of a vcenter 6.7 and restore the backup.

https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/6.7/com.vmware.vcenter.install.doc/GUID-3EAED005-B0A3-40CF...

First I would restore to the current version and then upgrade

[Fluckiger]

Hello,

Thanks for your reply,

Currently, we are backing up the VM with Veeam B&R 11. So we don't have an "internal" backup.

But, we still have access via the https://fqdn:5480 console and inside we can do a backup. (See attachment).

Is this right ?

However, given the current state of the VM, is it still possible?

Thanks a lot for your help.

[Fluckiger]

Hello,

Does anyone know if it is possible to make a backup from this console to restore it in a new vCenter 6.7?

Thanks in advance.

[Jimmy15]

can you try updating vcsa6.7 to it's latest minor release (take snapshot/clone before proceeding).
it will fix vcenter management service components.

regards

[Fluckiger]

Hello,

Thanks for your reply,

I tried to update to version 6.7.0.47000 (ZIP file) but could not load it.

I have setup an IIS server and configured it correctly but I still get this error message. (See attachment)

Thanks to you.

[Fluckiger]

Finally, the update could be done.

However, it is still impossible to access the interface.

Many services are down...

I also saw that some services are hidden. Which ones should not be hidden?

Thanks

[Jimmy15]

I really found it difficult to identify the single service responsible for management interface inaccessible.

last week I came across the similar issue where web UI was not working I tried restarting each service one by one but no luck, after that I stopped all service and start them again...it worked...

in your case where services are messed up...for updating u need VAMI access (root credentials and 5480 port working) no other interface for this exercise. allow vcsa 10-15mins for being stable and access web ui. hopefully it will fix...

regards

[Jimmy15]

download iso on any machine and upload to datastore using winscp.

open esxi web ui and map it to vcsa vm.

enable ssh of vcsa.

login vcsa with root credentials.

regards

[Fluckiger]

Thank you for your feedback,

Unfortunately I have already tried this procedure but many services do not start (See attachment).

Often, the console (5480) is not even accessible anymore.

Thank you for your feedback.

[fabio1975]

Ciao 

Do you use Distributed Switches in your infrastructure?
Were you able to backup vCenter from the Console?
Do you have a vCenter backup made with Veeam where you are sure that the vCenter is working correctly?

[Fluckiger]

Thank you for your answer,

We do not use a distribution switch, it is a "simple" infrastructure.

We only have backups made with Veeam, no internal backup of the vCenter.

We have already tried to restore a backup from a month ago (where the vCenter was working) but same thing.

If I have access to the management console of the appliance, is it possible to make a backup and restore it in new vCenter 6.7?

Thanks

[fabio1975]

At this point we may have these possibilities:

1- Install a new instance of vecenter and connect the ESXi nodes to it
(what customizations do you have in the current infrastructure? Roles? Permissions?)
Before connect the hosts to new vcenter, disconnect the ESXi from old vcenter with this command from ESXi WEB GUI

or

2- Try to make a new restore of the vcenter (check this KB when you do a restore ... https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/78042)

[Fluckiger]

Hello,

As mentioned above, we are not used to managing VMware but I don't think there are any special things at the configuration level.

Concerning the Datastore and the network configurations, how can I find the same configuration on the new vCenter?

When migrating the HOST to the new vCenter, do I have to plan a break?

Thanks

[fabio1975]

Ciao 

For the network it must be in the same network segment and can also have a different IP address and name.
For moving the Esxi nodes there are usually no downtime necessary the VMs keep going.
The main aspect as already indicated is that there are no ditributed switches.

If you can backup the configurations from within the vcenter management console (the screen you sent me) you can try to restore during the new installation as indicated in this link
https://www.vembu.com/blog/vmware-vcsa-6-7-appliance-restore/
this way you can keep the configurations

[Fluckiger]

Thank you Fabio,

I think I'm definitely stuck...

I have access to the management console but I can't start a backup. I still have a lot of services that are stopped and I don't understand why. Can't restart them (Timeout) -> See attachment.

Is there a specific restart order?

Thank you for your help.

[fabio1975]

Try  this:

1. Connect to the vCenter Server through an SSH or console session.
2. Rename the prepare_for_restore script:

# cd /usr/lib/restore
# mv prepare_for_restore.sh prepare_for_restore.sh_dont_run

3. Restart vCenter

There is this KB https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/78042

[Fluckiger]

I just tested but unfortunately, always the same result 😥

In attachment, here are the services that are started automatically. The rest, they do not want to start.

Thanks

[fabio1975]

At this point or open a ticket to VMware support or install a new instance of vcenter and connect a this instance your  ESXi nodes