VCSA Install stuck on "Powering On Applicance"

[tdeg]

VMware vCenter Server Appliance Deployment has been stuck on "Powering on appliance" for nearly an hour.  Please advise?

• VMware-VCSA-all-6.0.0-2800571
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Update:  After 4 failed attempts on the same host (ESXi-10), I tried the install on another ESXi (ESXi-1) host and installation completed successfully. I'd still like to figure out what caused the Power On to hang with ESXi-10 though. Any ideas as to cause?

[a_p_]

Did you check the appliance's state at this time from the vSphere Client? Was it powered on? Did it show any warnings/errors on the console, or in its log file?

André

[HABaki]

Hi tdegtdeg,

Would you please tell me the difference between your ESXi-10 and ESXi-1 ? as I am stuck at the same step.

Did you figure out the cause ?

[utsavagarwal2]

Same issue 😕

XXX com.vmware.vc.guestOperations.GuestOperation.formatOnVm not found XXX

XXX com.vmware.vc.guestOperations.GuestOperation.category not found XXX

in the Appliance event log.

[HABaki]

Hi,

Got it solved. Was installing on ESXi guest that is installed on ESXi host, but when installing it on ESXi host, it works.

[NISMOkwim]

HABaki, would you mind explaining what exactly the difference is between the ESXi guest and the ESXi host, in this case?

[eddiehaug]

This is a known bug in vCenter Update 1: VMware vCenter Server 6.0 Update 1 Release Notes

See under Deployment issues:

• Attempts to deploy vCenter Server Appliance using an ISO image file might display incorrect deployment status
  When you deploy vCenter Server Appliance using an ISO image file, the deployment wizard might not display the actual process of the deployment. The wizard stops responding and displays as "Powering on appliance" even though the VCSA deployment is completed.
  
  Workaround : The status of deployment can be checked in appliance console.

What I did was to keep the installation window open, then go to the dns address of the host, for example:  http://vcsa.lab.local

From there, you can access the ESXi user interface.  Log in using your ESXi credentials.  Go to the vCenter Appliance VM, open a console window and check the status, also check the tasks bar.

You'll see that in the console window you have this message (probably):

At that point, you should follow from Step 8 here: http://emadyounis.com/vcenter/deploying-vcenter-server-appliance-vcsa-6-0-u1-on-ravello/

As said, this is a known bug though, so I don't know if this is really the solution.