vCenter inventory missing using web client?

[peterdekanter]

I just upgraded my environment to 5.1 and for some reason one of my vCenter servers shows no inventory using the web client. I have double checked the permissions at both sites and have verified the inventory in the vSphere client and everything looks good. I have two in linked mode and the other one shows everything just fine. I have tried repointing and reregistering as according to this kb article (VMware KB: Repointing and reregistering VMware vCenter Server 5.1.x and components ) but all the outputs show as being already registered. Any ideas?

Thanks.

[admin]

Do you encounter the same issue when login using vsphere client

[peterdekanter]

I do not encounter the same issue with the vSphere client. It shows the full inventory with the proper permissions.

[Atul_gen]

I believe the both VCs are registered to same SSO.You will not be using the option "Use window credentials".

[peterdekanter]

I do not use the "Use Windows Credentials" option when signing in. In your prior post which either got deleted or you modified, you mentioned looking to see if the inventory service was started. I looked on the vCenter server and noticed that the Inventory Service was completely missing. I removed the service and reinstalled it and reregistered it according to the document in my first post and now I get this when I log in.

[admin]

Inventory Service is running and you actually did register it to your current SSO where the Webclient and vCenter Server are registered against?

Do you get a certificate warning when you open https://localhost:10443 and a bad request 400 error?

Did you repoint vCenter Server to the new Inventory Service instance after the installation?

[peterdekanter]

I do get a 400 error. What's that mean?

[admin · Accepted solution]

That is the expected behaviour for Inventory Service running.

Does the search in the vSphere Client work fine?

Have a look at the following kb DO NOT DO ALL THE STEPS IN THERE!

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2033620

Only follow Reregister vCenter Server with the Inventory Service for now, if the search function in vSphere Client is not working properly.

[peterdekanter]

That was it! Thank you so much! It looks like this problem was two-fold.

1. When I installed the Inventory Service on the vCenter server, the software got installed but the windows service "VMware Inventory Service" was never installed/registered. I had to remove and reinstall the Inventory Service.

2. When I reinstalled the Inventory Service, I followed the steps to reregister the Inventory Service to the SSO but I forgot to register it with the vCenter Server. I followed these steps. These were pulled directly from the VMware KB:

To reregister vCenter Server with the Inventory Service:

1. Open a command prompt.
2. Change directory to:
   C:\Program Files\VMware\Infrastructure\VirtualCenter Server\isregtool
   Note: If you installed the vCenter Inventory Service in a location other than the default C:\Program Files\, adjust the path.
3. Run the register-is.bat command to update the stored configuration information of the Inventory Service:
   register-is.bat vCenter_Server_URL Inventory_Service_URL Lookup_Service_URL
4. Use this example as a model:
   register-is.bat https://machinename.corp.com:443/sdk https://machinename.corp.com:10443 https://machinename.corp.com:7444/lookupservice/sdk