VMware Cloud Community
darkweaver87
Contributor
Contributor

vCenter service doesn't start at the system boot

Hello everybody,

I have some troubles using vCenter 2.5.

Indeed I have to start the "VMware License Server" service manually because it doesn't start and it never did.

In the events observer I get the error 0x2.

I'm sorry but I don't know where and how to gather more pertinent informations on Windows.

vCenter runs on a Windows XP 32 bits SP2 virtual machine with VMWare Server 1.0.4 installed on Windows Server 2003 R2 SP2.

Any ideas ?

Thanks.

Rémi

Reply
0 Kudos
16 Replies
Cooldude09
Commander
Commander

Is it just the license server services or VMware Virtual center service as well. Check for the .NET framework if it is installed properly. Also update your windows with the latest pacthes.

Anil Gupta

Don’t fear changes, its constant in life, reduce your ecological footprint……………………..Go Green

if you found my answer to be useful, feel free to mark it as Helpful or Correct.

Looking for a Virtualization Solution, look here.....

If U find my answer useful, feel free to give points by clicking Helpful or Correct.

Subscribe yourself at walkonblock.com

jbruelasdgo
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

it is not recommended to install VirtualCenter with VMware Server in the same machine

Jose

Jose B Ruelas http://aservir.wordpress.com
Reply
0 Kudos
denali80
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I had a similar issue with the Virtual Center service not starting automatically. This occurred because my database wasn't up completely when the Virtual Center service was starting. I resolved it by setting up a dependency on the database service so that none of the VMware services started until the database was up. This fixed my issues, hopefully it will work for you too.

darkweaver87
Contributor
Contributor

Hello and thanks for your answer,

Sorr, there was a mistake in my post: the VMWare License Service starts corretly whereas WMWare Virtual Center service not. And it's my problem.

I can't update the Windows XP because the machine is in closed network (reason: classified network for defense organism ...) .

.NET framework is correctly installed.

Reply
0 Kudos
darkweaver87
Contributor
Contributor

Hello,

In fact, I installed vCenter on a virtual machine for 2 ESX servers. vCenter doesn't manager the VMWare Server.

Thanks.

Reply
0 Kudos
darkweaver87
Contributor
Contributor

Hello and thanks,

I was thinking about something similar but I didn't think about SQL service.

I tried to add DependOnService: MSSQL$SQLEXP_VIM in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\vpxd but it didn't solve the problem.

Did you add this value or another one ?

Reply
0 Kudos
denali80
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I tried to add DependOnService: MSSQL$SQLEXP_VIM in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\vpxd but it didn't solve the problem.

Did you add this value or another one ?

I added that same service dependency to the registry. As long as that's your instance of SQL that your database is running

on, that should work.

if you found my answer to be useful, feel free to mark it as Helpful or Correct.

Reply
0 Kudos
athlon_crazy
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

have you check your vpxd.log? perhaps you may get some hints from the log..

VMware newbie..

Zen Systems Sdn Bhd

www.no-x.org

http://www.no-x.org
Reply
0 Kudos
Cooldude09
Commander
Commander

First thing, you actually dont need VCenter to manage VM's on VMware Server. Secondly if you do need, it can be installed in one of the VM's inside VMware Server. you wont find any performance issues with the same.

Also i would recommend you to go for windows 2003 for VC rather than windows XP as performance and issues reported are more on windows xp compared to windows 2003.

Anil Gupta

Don’t fear changes, its constant in life, reduce your ecological footprint……………………..Go Green

if you found my answer to be useful, feel free to mark it as Helpful or Correct.

Looking for a Virtualization Solution, look here.....

If U find my answer useful, feel free to give points by clicking Helpful or Correct.

Subscribe yourself at walkonblock.com

Reply
0 Kudos
mclark
Expert
Expert

I have never had any luck getting vCenter to start after a reboot by using dependencies on MSSQL, just so you are aware (in case that is happening to you). What I finally had to do, based on other posts, was create a batch file that will ping a host (or do whatever you want) for a minute or two, then start the vCenter service. I set this batch file up to run at startup as a scheduled task in Windows. Once I did that vCenter has been starting correctly ever since. It has something to do with MSSQL not being up and ready to go "enough" by the time vCenter tries to start, but being ready "enough" that dependencies say it's ok.

Reply
0 Kudos
darkweaver87
Contributor
Contributor

OK. Even if it doesn't work for me, thanks for your help.

Reply
0 Kudos
darkweaver87
Contributor
Contributor

I don't have any vpxd.log. I come from unix systems and that's the first thing I verified but there is no /var/log Smiley Wink

Reply
0 Kudos
darkweaver87
Contributor
Contributor

First thing, you actually dont need VCenter to manage VM's on VMware Server.

Of course. I just would like to manage a pool of ressources and install mecanisms like vmotion etc

Secondly if you do need, it can be installed in one of the VM's inside VMware Server. you wont find any performance issues with the same.

OK.

Also i would recommend you to go for windows 2003 for VC rather than windows XP as performance and issues reported are more on windows xp compared to windows 2003.

The choice of Windows XP is not mine and can't be changed.

I tried to install vCenter on a physical machine. It seems to work.

But, Iwould like to understand why it does'nt work in a virtual machine. So, I tried to change the DB. I would like to install MySQL until vCenter tells me it doesn't support MySQL. I don't understand why it doesn't support it because the code is the same that the one for Oracle and MSSQL because they use an ODBC connector. It appears they have developped a code to make it not working. What do every body think about it ?

Reply
0 Kudos
athlon_crazy
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

yep! indeed I admit , perhaps you really from unix background and no wonder you donno where to locate vpxd.log..

VMware newbie..

Zen Systems Sdn Bhd

www.no-x.org

http://www.no-x.org
Reply
0 Kudos
lkj2007
Contributor
Contributor

do you try to set to null the values in the table vpx_host_x, column system_health

after applying the atest patches, we encountered this pb on some esx3i hosts

Reply
0 Kudos
darkweaver87
Contributor
Contributor

OK. I will test later because it's now working with a phisical machine and I have not enaugh time for the moment. I will test later, maybe next week.

Thanks.

Reply
0 Kudos