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oschistad
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Health status not displaying due to vcenter rename

First of all, I am very much aware of the needless pain and suffering I have caused myself by installing vCenter before assigning the correct hostname to the server. However, I've been able to weed out all the resulting problems except one; the hardware health tab still doesn't work.

I know that this is caused by a leftover from the old hostname since the vws.log dumps the following error when I try to access the tab:

 [2009-08-18 10:07:09,550 Thread-52  ERROR 'com.vmware.vim.health.impl.ComponentSpec'] Error while trying to login to https://WIN-6S7KEDU17NJ:8443/vws/Login

However, what boggles me is that there doesn't seem to be a single reference to the old hostname in any of the xml files nor in the vCenter database itself. So where is this hostname being referenced I wonder?

Lastly, a tip to anyone installing vCenter on a windows 2008 server: The windows setup wizard never asks you for a hostname during the installation, it just auto-assigns a name to the host. Do remember to change the hostname before launching the vCenter installer and you'll save yourself a LOT of hassle Smiley Wink

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23 Replies
dtracey
Expert
Expert

Hi mate,

Sorry to hear that - that's the sort of thing i'd do! Always keen to try out the new stuff.

Is the SQL database local or remote, and which version is it? It's probably worth a quick search of the registry on the vCenter side too?

In the short term I guess you could stick an entry in your host file (I know its not pretty, but that hostname should never exist in production...) - just until you find the errant config!

Dan

Edit: - How did you search the DB? Manually or with a tool? Just wondering if it's worth me installing and running one of my SQL search tools against a test VC DB here for you?

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AmarRaghu
Contributor
Contributor

Can you mend this and try :

1.VirtualCenter.VimApiUrl

2.VirtualCenter.VimWebServicesUrl

from the Administration->vCenter Server Settings->Runtime Settings ?

If it points to the old vCenter host name, pls update it to the new name. Let know if things work fine after this.

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AmarRaghu
Contributor
Contributor

  • ... -> Advanced Settings (not Runtime Settings)

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EWallace70
Contributor
Contributor

Oschistad,

I am experiencing nearly the same problem; however, my issue resulted from a migration from one vCenter 4.0 server to another. The SQL 2005 Server remained the same. I have been unable to locate the source of the reference to the old vCenter hostname. The setting changes posted by AmarRaghu have no effect and I have seen postings elsewhere stating that the "Advanced Settings" under vCenter Server Settings, although editable, do not update the configuration.

The most visible symptoms of my problem are within the vCenter Service Status of the Administration section of the VI client:

1. vCenter Management Webservices shows an Alert with a message of "Unable to retrieve health data from "

2. vCenter Server shows an alert with a message of "Unable to retrieve health data from https://oldservername.mydomain.local:443/vpxdhealth"

The vws.log file continually reports the following error:

2009-08-25 14:33:55,897 Thread-41 ERROR 'com.vmware.vim.health.impl.ComponentSpec' Error while trying to login to https://OLDSERVERNAME.MYDOMAIN.local:8443/vws/Login

Aside from the above annoyances, all other vCenter functions appear normal.

I have reviewed all of the XML files as suggested in other posts. Has anyone been successful at eliminating these errors?

vSphere client 4.0.0 - Build 162856

vCenter Server 4.0.0 - build 162856

Thank you,

--Eric

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RParker
Immortal
Immortal

I am experiencing nearly the same problem; however, my issue resulted from a migration from one vCenter 4.0 server to another.

Just to add, we have the SAME EXACT issue. Updated those values, NO CHANGE WHATSOEVER.

Aside from the above annoyances, all other vCenter functions appear normal.

And it IS annoying

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beasleyiv
Contributor
Contributor

I'm having the same problem. Not with an old hostname, but with an old port that I changed back to default. I've been all through config files, registry, and SQL database. I can find no reference to the old port that is still showing up in the error.

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StevemanXP
Contributor
Contributor

Hello,

I am seeing some weird stuff. I have a post here, about vCenter portscanning a node on my network.

http://communities.vmware.com/thread/229647

It did not occur to me originally that this could be due to a rename - but I did indeed rename the vSphere vCenter server as well as both ESX4 hosts. Everything works fine except for the plugin manager, I am unable to click on "Download and install" on the available "VMware vCenter update manager" plugin. While troubleshooting this I came across the portscanning issue in my post, then the second screen shot in my post is where I am getting an alert that com.vmware.vcIntegrity is unable to retrieve health data from .

The odd thing is that this IP does exist in my environment but is in one of the workstation subnets and was never assigned to anything having to do with VMware. But, I did rename all of my stuff after it was deployed, and I am seeing the same symptoms as in this thread - my two ESX4 servers do report health status, but it looks like vCenter is also trying to get health status info for this random IP address, and I have searched the registry and as many XML files as I could think of, and do not see anywhere that IP address exists.

So this is unsolved and weird and the IDS keeps going off because of the portscanning, but I have my real hardware on the way and am hopeful that rebuilding vCenter from scratch will make this no longer be an issue. But still, I am curious where this IP address is stored

-Steve

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pikepeak
Contributor
Contributor

Exactly the same problem .

Will have to find the entrance in the sql database, but wich table .... ?

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kcarlile
Contributor
Contributor

I have the same problem. I have an open ticket with VMware. Same deal; I upgraded by installing a new physical vCenter server with a new name, migrated the database over (I'm using SQLExpress 2005).

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a2alpha
Expert
Expert

I also had this issue and it was affecting not just the health status but the plugins as well for hardware monitoring and vum. Managed to get those sorted but couldn't ever get the health status back.

After spending ages on this even reinstalling it didn't seem to do it so I deployed a new Win 2k3 server from a template, renamed it and joined the domain. Then installed vCenter and update manager. It is so far, touch wood, working fine, plugins and health status.

Dan

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grahams125321
Contributor
Contributor

This setting seems to be stored in ADAM.

If you open C:\WINDOWS\ADAM\ADAM-adsiedit.msc and connect to the naming context "dc=virtualcenter,dc=vmware,dc=int" you will see what I have in the screenshot.

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trodemaster
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

I have verified that the locations in this ADAM post are the correct name. However I'm still having problems.

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Gabriel_Chapman
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I had this problem as well. Oddly enough the ADAM entries for DC=vmware were not present on my new host. I had to create them, then restart vcenter. Then delete the entries under OU=ComponentSpecs close that and restart vcenter and it rewrote the entries properly. I would make a backup of the ADAM prior to making any changes though.

Ex Gladio Equitas
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trodemaster
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

This final deletion of data is what got the health working for me after all the other steps where completed.

1. On the vCenter server go to Start -> All programs -> ADAM -> ADAM ADSI Edit

2. Right click on the ADAM ADSI edit and select connect to...

3. ensure the following is selected under connection settings

- Connection name : VC

- Server name : localhost

- port : 389

- Distinguished Name is selected and name is dc=virtualcenter, dc=vmware, dc=int

- Click ok to connect

4. You need to just delete :

CN=,OU=ComponentSpecs, OU=Health, dc=virtualcenter,dc=vmware,dc=int 5. When you have deleted this you will need to restart the vCenter service and the webaccess.

*Note you will also need to make sure all .xml files are also updated

5. restart the vcenter services.

Hopefully a KB for this is on the way. This info came from vmware support...

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tharringtonWebW
Contributor
Contributor

Just adding a yes, this worked for me. I was hesitant to delete the entire CN, so tried to update each property to the correct URL. However, while the error now displayed the correct URL, I still had trouble.

The final 'delete the whole CN' fix noted above and restarting all vCenter services (most notable the 'Collector Service') resolved the issue.

Thanks for the fix!

-Tom

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CH-Dave
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

You need to just delete :

+*CN=<VCGUID>,OU=ComponentSpecs, OU=Health,

dc=virtualcenter,dc=vmware,dc=int 5.*+

+When you have deleted this you

will need to restart the vCenter service and the webaccess.+

*Note you will also need to make sure all .xml files are also updated

Can I get some clairification on this? This is the first time I've ever used ADAM ADSI Edit. And exactly which XML files do I need to update?

Here's a screenshot of my configuration.

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rschimmer
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Same problem here on several vCenter servers.

Which .xml files should be edited and how ?

Badly that there is no KB article from VMware !

What is the impact on not fixing the problem ?

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jjgonzalezVM
Contributor
Contributor

ive got the same problem. Please explain how to do this, please.

Thank you.






Thanks.

JJ Gonzalez.

Thanks. JJ Gonzalez.
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FredPeterson
Expert
Expert

Throwing my name into the hat, but with a new quirk.

Brand new install of vCenter 4.1 on Server 2008. I am getting alert for the com.vmware.converter and com.vmware.vcintegrity. Both errors are similar in nature - unable to download health data from the respective URLs. The weird thing is one of them shows the URL as just the hostname (not FQDN) and the other shows the IP address of the server.

I did not check to see if these errors existed before or after I joined our domain.

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