Failed to intialize VMware VirtualCenter - after upgrade from 4.0 to 4.1

[sergiof78]

Hi,

Hope someone can help.

This is our infrastructure:

Physical server

Windows 2008 R2

SQL 2008

VC 4.0

I have been trying to upgrade our vc but the service will not start.

i started having the problem where our database would not upgrade - after checking the forum came across a kb of vmware - http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1024449 .

Now after a restore of the original db and applying the fix the upgrade seems to run fine. The log file comes back with a sucessfull upgrade.

The rest of the installation ends successfully it seems , but when the VirtualCenter Server service starts it fails with the following error message:

Failed to initialize: Not initialized: boolean storageIORMSupported

Failed to intialize VMware VirtualCenter. Shutting down...

Forcing shutdown of VMware VirtualCenter now

what am i doing wrong ?does anyone have any ideas?

Regards,

Sergio

[ProPenguin]

Are you running Anti-Virus on this server? If so have you tried disabling it and then starting the service? Hope this helps.

[ArunNukala]

Sergio , If its SQL Server , check whether the service would start after stopping SQL Server Reporting Services , and also check the vpxd logs after the service crashes does it by any means say "backtracing" over there , please let me know..

[sergiof78]

thanks for the suggestions:

Antivirus was off - made no difference

i have no reporting service for sql server and there is no "backtracing" in the log file.

i have attached the vpxd log file

[pcerda]

Check out this discussion in VMware Communities:

http://communities.vmware.com/thread/278698

It seems to be the same behavior.




Regards / Saludos

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[sergiof78]

i eventually opened a case with vmware - it seems i found a bug and that there is not work around at the minute

i will post the eventual answer....

[pdpelsem]

I have the same issue.

Please keep us posted on that case.

[sergiof78]

for most environment vmware suggested to query the database with the following :

update vpx_datastore set capability= substring(capability, 1, charindex('' where capability is not null;

do this after the upgrade.

In my case it did not work therefore i am still waiting for a resolution.

[tlag]

We have the same issue. I will watch this post for resolution.

[cody_crank]

Same issue here. vCenter 4.0u1 on Windows 2008 x64 SP2, SQL 2005. We initially had problem because our DB was in 2000 compatibility mode, but once we restored and tried again, the install was successful and we are seeing the same error. VMWare pointed at the known bug, but it was related to running on 2008 R2, which we weren't.

[duncj_nz]

This is a known bug according to VMware support, and a patch will be released in the next patch round (so spoke VMware support on 21/09/10).

There is a workaround and update zip for vCenter (actually updates the vCenter database) available for the brave - you'll need to contact VMware support to get the zip and make sure you take a backup of your database before doing anything. The steps for the workaround are:

1. Login to the system where VC fails to start.

2. Copy the UpgradeDatastoreCLOBs.zip. Unzip the entire contents

3. Make a backup of the existing vCenter database (this is very important, as dbuhelper makes modifications to the database)

4. Run the dbuHelper.exe with commandline params as mentioned in the README.txt (located in the extracted contents)

5. After the dbuHelper.exe completes successfully, reboot the VC server.

If it helps you can quote my support request number to assist VMware with finding the right info: 1573259251

[adp2]

Why arent these "features" publicised?? Half way through a scheduled upgrade and it all falls apart due to a known bug -- good work Quality control!!

[sergiof78]

so vmware seems to have found a fix, but it will take at least 1 month until its released !

i have asked about the potential fix duncj_nz mentioned - but so far no reply !

if that does not work , we gonna potentially do a fresh install and recreate our pools ... see if that works.

we cannot wait 1 month!

[adp2]

We have over 50 hosts and 850 guests -- I do not feel like recreating my infrastructure

[mattwilson]

Another victim to this bug. 4.0 U1 to 4.1 upgrade first hit with DB mutiple schema issues. Once that was resolved we made our way past the install and could not start the services. I am on the phone with a VMware engineer and he noted the KB you guys referred to above. Only this zip file is inaccessible.

I'll update if there is indeed a fix or if we will be rolling back.

[mattwilson]

The tech support engineer was able to find the zip file in the original bug posting internally. He will also submit a request to have the corrupt zip file on their web page fixed. KB article I was referencing was 1024811.

Still haven't yet used zip file to see if this fixes it yet.

[drosala]

You sure it is 1024811, because that doesn't return anything. I just posted another question on this, but my DB is Oracle.

[mattwilson]

Once received and extracted the zip file executable inside did indeed fix the issue. As far as the link goes it appears they pulled it while I was on the phone as it no longer works.

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=102481...

This was likely done until this can replace the corrupt zip file.

Regardless it appears if you have this issue you will need to call VMware support to obtain the zip. I tried uploading it to this thread but it timed out.

[mattwilson]

Here is the output once the zip is obtained and the command is run. (For your reference)

Starting vCenter Server...

Error: vCenter Server service failed to start

Exiting...

E:\datamigration>cd ..

E:\>cd UpgradeDatastoreClobs

E:\UpgradeDatastoreClobs>dbuHelper.exe

Current working directory: E:\Upgrade

DatastoreClobs

Log path: C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMwar

e VirtualCenter\Logs

Initializing SSL

Using system libcrypto, version 9080

CF

Vmacore::InitSSL: doVersionCheck = tr

ue, handshakeTimeoutUs = 120000000

Upgrading the datastore c

lobs.

Done upgrading the Datsto

re clobs.

E:\UpgradeDatastoreClobs>

Note: the variables that need to be used with the dbuHelper command.

[admin]

The zip referred to is not verified and the information was mistakenly released. This is being addressed internally.

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Alex Maier

VMware Communities Manager