vCenter 4.1 upgrade to 4.1u1 failed. Upgrade option now gone.

[jevel]

I started the upgrade and went through all the dialogues in the upgrade installer, then the install started and failed due to the server needing to be booted after installing some updates.

After the reboot, I restart the installer only to find two otions; modify linked mode configuration or uninstall.

I tried googling the issue, but found none that I could see with the exact same problem.

Does anyone have any advice on this?

-KJ

[Troy_Clavell]

can you connect to vCenter using the vSphere Client?  If so, what build are you running? Help--About VMware vSphere

[bulletprooffool]

Are you sure that the install did not complete - and it didn't just want you to reboot to complete the process?

Can you open the VC? If so - Go to Help - > About VMWare vSphere and check the version  number.

If not, have a look in your Windows Application logs and post any errors related to the installation that you may have found.

[jevel]

Thank you for your reply.

The vCenter still has the old build number. I know it failed due to the fact that it rolled back the install, i.e. the bar went left, not right.

-KJ

[Troy_Clavell]

so, what is the current build number?  You aren't giving us a lot of information.  Any event log errors?  Local or Remote DB?  Windows Host OS?

[jevel]

Sorry about that. Replied to the first answer before I saw yours.

vCenter runs on a Windows 2008 Server Standard edition, the build number is 258902. I'm trying to upgrade to 345042. The only error I can find in the event logs is related to the setup terminating the running services, i.e.:

"The VMware VirtualCenter Managment Webservices service terminated with service-specific error 0 (0x0)."

"Application or service 'VMware VirtualCenter Management Webservices' could not be restarted."

"Application or service 'VMware VirtualCenter Server' could not be restarted."

Is there a specific log I can look in to find events related to the upgrade that failed?

-KJ

[Troy_Clavell]

Local or remote DB?  If remote, you have dbo on the MSDB and the VCDB?  Also, if a remote DB, have you tried to simply uninstall vCenter and reinstall again?

See also,

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1003926

[jevel]

Local DB. I have not reinstalled yet, and will try to avoid doing so.

The services start just fine, the errors are related to the upgrade, when the installer terminated them.

What I need help with is to kick the installer back into upgrading my current install, not uninstalling the old install.

-KJ

[Troy_Clavell]

U1 was just released last night.  You have gone through the release notes?  Also, what is the hurry to jump on U1?

[jevel]

Let's just say that we have a few issues that's on the fixed issues list...

And that a certain hardware vendor is telling us that problems we have is related to VMware, not the hardware.

-KJ

[Troy_Clavell]

you may want to review the vpxd.logs to see if you can find anything.  Also, review the KB article I posted.

[AlbertWT]

FYI: yes this problem still exist now when I tried to upgrade the VCenter 4.0u2 into 4.1u1 I got this error:

---------------------------

VMware vCenter Server

---------------------------

Exception thrown while executing SQL script.

---------------------------

OK  

---------------------------

the Database was upgraded to 410 schema, but then the VMware VCenter Server service is always failed to start.

Up until now there is no solution that I could find in the web regarding this inline upgrade problem.

[AureusStone]

I presume you restored your database from backup and now you are back on 4.0u2

Any hints in the install log.  Also look in the log when you try to start the vCenter server and it fails

What database are you running?  If you are running Oracle and you upgraded from 2.5->4.x->4.1 there is a known issue for that and steps have to be taken before you upgrade.

How big is your environment?  It may be worth just installing a fresh vCenter 4.1 server and migrating your data across.

[AlbertWT]

I presume you restored your database from backup and now you are back on 4.0u2

yes i am now back to 4.0u2

Any hints in the install log....?

I'm not sure where to look for this, is it the VPXd log in C:\Users\Administrator\AppData\Local\Temp

What database are you running?

It is installed in separate server, SQL Server 2005 Std. SP2 32 bit

How big is your environment?

22 ESX(i) hosts with 185+ VMs

[AureusStone]

The install logs are located at "C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Temp\vminst.log".  The username is whatever account you are updating from.

The VPXD logs are also very useful "C:\Users\All Users\VMware\VMware VirtualCenter\Logs".

Make sure your database is not in compatibility mode.

Also make sure your SQL jobs are running on the same account as your vCenter service account.  Due to the trusts in my environment I have to use a different user account, but the SQL upgrade script does not know this.

[RAMESA]

Looks like vcdatabase upgrade has failed; please upload the VCdatabaseUpgrade.log file from %temp%