Unable to suddenly start vCenter Service

[michaeltz]

Hi,

We have vmWare vSphere Essentials running for a month and all of a sudden it stopped working on 11/9.  When we try to start the service, a message from Windows pops up saying that it can't start the service.

We have purchased a new server that meets the requirements of vCenter.  We have vCenter 4.1 running on Windows Server Standard 2008 R2. 

The most recent change we made was we installed SMTP server feature which required part of the IIS role to be installed.

I've found the huge log files under the "All Users" folder but I'm not sure what I should be looking for.

My first question is where can I find more information about the error and second what might be causing this strange change of behavior in vCenter?

Thank you for any help you can provide,

Michael

[Troy_Clavell · Accepted solution]

The most recent change we made was we installed SMTP server feature which required part of the IIS role to be installed.

This is more than likely your problem IIS will conflict with vCenter. You need to stop IIS and your vCenter Service will be able to be started successfully

[michaeltz]

Troy,

Thank you, that was the correct answer.  I was on the phone with vmWare support and they made the exact same suggestion.  You responded faster than they did although they were also extremely helpful:smileylaugh:

Once I stopped the WWW service, I was able to start the vCenter.

Unfortunately, that means we can't run SMTP server on the same machine that runs vCenter and we'll have to relay to another server or vm.

Michael

[RParker]

michaeltz wrote:

Unfortunately, that means we can't run SMTP server on the same machine that runs vCenter and we'll have to relay to another server or vm.

Michael

no it means you need to turn OFF the default site (using port 80, or some other port that conflicts with vCenter).  You can still use SMTP, not related at all.. IIS manages many different services from a central console, only one of which is conflicting with your VM ware configuration.

In order to change the settings you need to turn WWW publishing service back on, change the default site to disable then IIS can run at the same time as vCenter.

[michaeltz]

RParker wrote:

michaeltz wrote:

Unfortunately, that means we can't run SMTP server on the same machine that runs vCenter and we'll have to relay to another server or vm.

Michael

no it means you need to turn OFF the default site (using port 80, or some other port that conflicts with vCenter).  You can still use SMTP, not related at all.. IIS manages many different services from a central console, only one of which is conflicting with your VM ware configuration.

In order to change the settings you need to turn WWW publishing service back on, change the default site to disable then IIS can run at the same time as vCenter.

When I installed SMTP server which is a feature under Win2008, it also installed part of the web server role.  I'm trying to open IIS manager to try and shut down the default site to test that but I can't find the snap-in.  I even typed inetmgr and it didn't come up.  Any ideas on how I can test that?

[Troy_Clavell]

see below

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1015101

[michaeltz]

Troy Clavell wrote:

see below

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1015101

Troy,

Thanks for the link.  The problem in our case is the way that Windows installs the SMTP feature.  It doesn't do a full IIS installation so I don't have access to IIS manager to make changes to the default website.   I suppose I could install the full IIS role on it or figure out how to make the change in the metadata.

I would imagine most small-scale solutions running Windows and vSphere Essentials would want email capability with vCenter and the easiest way to do that would be to install the SMTP feature on the same server.

Michael