License file download from SERVER to vCenter Server failed due to exception: vim.fault.HostConnectFault.

[longwoodmgmt]

Hello all:

I  am trying to add a Esxi 5.0 to a new installation of Vcenter. I was  able to add my other hosts which are running ESXi 4.1, however, when I  try to add this new installtion (everything else is wokring) I am  getting this error:

License file download from SERVER to vCenter Server failed due to exception: vim.fault.HostConnectFault.

Anyone know why?

I tried to add a license key at the time of adding, or even trying evaluation mode - both came up with the same error.

Any help would be greatly apprecaited.

Thanks

[a_p_]

Just to be sure. Are you running vCenter Server 5.0?

An older version of vCenter Server cannot manager ESXi 5.0 hosts.

André

[longwoodmgmt]

Yes I am running Vcenter 5.0..

[mike_wezesa]

Figured I'd bump this thread instead of creating a new one, I am receiving the same error message but under different circumstances.

1. Upgraded vCenter/vsphere 4.1 to 5.0, left the 3 esx hosts alone.

2. 2 of the 3 esx hosts were able to be added back into vCenter successfully (both running version 4.0)

3. The 3rd esx host cannot be added back into vcenter (running version 4.1 - don't see why this would be a problem)

I've done all the cute little tricks like renaming authorization.xml to authorization.xml.old and restarting the management agents, I've manually uninstalled/reinstalled the vcenter agent, yada yada. I can connect through vsphere directly to the host in question fine however every time I try to "add standalone host" to my vCenter DataCenter it pops up the "vim.fault.hostconnectfault" license download error message. Any help or guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Mike

[a_p_]

ESXi 4.0 works and 4.1 doesn't? You didn't have Lockdown mode enabled for the hosts, did you?

André

[mike_wezesa]

All hosts are still ESX not ESXi (yet), I'm not sure if there is a correlation between the 4.0 hosts working and the 4.1 host not but I figured it was worth mentioning. From everything I have read vCenter5 supports legacy 4.x ESX versions.

[a_p_]

From everything I have read vCenter5 supports legacy 4.x ESX versions.

That's correct. vCenter Server 5.0 supports all ESX/ESXi version from ESX/ESXi 3.5 U2 up to ESXi 5.0 (see http://partnerweb.vmware.com/comp_guide2/sim/interop_matrix.php) except for ESXi 4.0 Update 2 (see http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2007269)

André

[mike_wezesa]

Any ideas on what else I can look at as far as misconfigurations or anything along those lines? If this were a true licensing issue wouldn't I be presented with a similar message when I log in directly to the esx host through vsphere?

[a_p_]

This is more a guess, but maybe there's an issue with the static files (see http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1017928) download. What I could think of is that vCenter Server has an issue with a previous download (while running vCenter 4.1).

If you have a current SnS, I'd recommend you open a call with VMware, since I am not sure where this data is stored (file system, vCenter Server database, ADAM database) and whether or how this can be deleted or reset.

André

[mike_wezesa]

Well that link seems like it could apply to my situation, if I am reading it correctly it would make sense that my 2 4.0 ESX systems were able to be added back into vCenter no problem (since they are on the same ESX version). I should note that this is a completely new installation of vCenter (infact, my colleague was the one to install a fresh x64 version of Win2k8 R2 and vCenter 5), he mentioned something in email while I was on vacation about "letting the database rebuild from each host since our environment is small"...would there normally be any issue with readding pre-existing ESX hosts to a new instance of vCenter (as in without restoring the original database from vCenter 4.1?).

[Sham27in]

facing the same issue

License file download from SERVER to vCenter Server failed due to exception: vim.fault.HostConnectFault. while adding the standalone ESXi host to Vcenter

ESXi 5.0

Vcenter 5.0

Can i get any help please. its pretty urgent setup

[longwoodmgmt]

Sham27in:

Here is what i did to get it to work:

Looks like the "root" username did not have full admin permission, either by default, or some other issue.

Either way, I had to re-add root permissions as administrator, and it worked.

Interesting  though that the ESX host is joined to my network domin, and  authentication should be through AD - I would like to note that I was  using a username with full permission access as admin, but that doesn't  work either. Looks like you must be using the "root" account.

Thakns all for the input.

---

In short, make sure you are using the "root" account, instead of an AD login (even if you AD login has domain rights). You MUST go to permissions, and edit the root login to include all administrative rights.

Let me know if that helped you out.

[mike_wezesa]

I have been using root when attempting to add the host to vCenter, same message is displayed (whether I try to add the host by IP or Hostname). I even went as far as to edit the vmware.lic file to set it back to an evaluation license just to make sure it wasn't some whacked out problem with my license key, same results.

One thing I do notice however, the 2 ESX hosts that are successfully added in vCenter, when you look at the Configuration tab - Software - Security Profile, each of these hosts lists:

Services

     SSH Server

     VMware vCenter Agent

     NTP Daemon

     vSphere Web Access

On the standalone host that I cannot add to vCenter, when I look at the Configuration - Software - Security profile tab connected directly to the host through vSphere I do not see any Services listed at all, just the Firewall settings. I don't see how or why this is the case but I am assuming not having a vCenter Agent at all is likely the cause of my issue?

[NTShad0w]

for my case it was evidently lack of permissions while not using root but my username with administrator rights (on ESXi host), ESXi v5.5 b1623387 adding to vCSA v5.5.0 b2646482.

so some kind bug most probably.

but thanks for help

regards

NTShad0w

[Mnemonic]

I had a similar error:

License file download from <servername> to vCenter Server failed due to exception: vmodl.fault.SecurityError.

The solution can be found here:

https://vm.knutsson.it/2018/02/cannot-add-esxi-host-to-vcenter

[MrSPN007]

We had the same issue after upgrading our first host in a cluster from 6.5 u1 to 6.5 u3.   We tried several of the things mentioned here, but in the end I had to call support.  They found out that the issue was with vCenter and it had an issue sending the license file to the host. The fix was to SSH into Vcenter (We have Linux Appliance) then run the following command.

1. From SSH Run this Command: /usr/lib/vmware-vmdir/bin/vdcadmintool
2. Selection Option 6 to get VMDIR State  (our State was set to "readon"  which indicated that i was not working.  The correct state should be "Normal"
3. Run the command again:  /usr/lib/vmware-vmdir/bin/vdcadmintool
4. Select Option 5 to Set the State and set to Normal
5. Attempt to Connect Host to vCenter Again.

[nunolarua]

Hi there,

That solved my problem! Even with issues creating Tags.

Thank you!

Cheers!