vSphere Replication Appliance not showing in vSphere Web Client

[BenjaminCramph1]

Morning All,

Setting up vSphere replication appliance. I have installed the appliance and configured it with what I believe to be the correct settings. I can start the service and register it in vCenter through the VAMI however the additional functionality is not displayed within the vSphere web client (I've tried the usual of clearing cache \ restarting PC).

If I use the windows client and check plugins I get the option for the VMR plugin however it says it does not need to be installed as an additional component.

Hosts and vCenter is all 5.5 and latest patches. VMR appliance is 5.8.1 which is still supported on 5.5. Other considerations is that vCenter was recently exported and imported onto a new host. Don't believe this is anything to do with the issue as everything else is working fine however thought I'd mention it in case there was some sort of consideration around this I'm not aware of.

Any ideas on how to start troubleshooting this issue?

[mvalkanov]

Hi,

Please try looking at vsphere_client_virgo.log when doing a login to the Web Client. During login, the Web Client iterates over all vCenter Server extensions and attempts to load plugins such as the one for VR.

Perhaps there is another plugin causing conflict/version mismatch.

Regards,

Martin

[BenjaminCramph1]

Hi,

Thanks for the advice. I can see the relevant error below:

[2017-01-18 16:57:19.021] [INFO ] vc-service-pool-582          70000536 100005 200002 com.vmware.vise.vim.extension.VcExtensionManager                  Downloading plugin package from https://10.1.10.15:5480/client/ngcplugin-55.zip (no proxy defined)

[2017-01-18 16:57:19.053] [ERROR] vc-service-pool-582          70000536 100005 200002 com.vmware.vise.vim.extension.VcExtensionManager                  Package com.vmware.vcHms was not installed!

Error downloading https://10.1.10.15:5480/client/ngcplugin-55.zip. Make sure that the URL is reachable then logout/login to force another download. javax.net.ssl.SSLHandshakeException: java.security.cert.CertificateException: Server certificate chain is not trusted and thumbprint doesn't match

I believe that ngcplugin-55.zip is required for replication extenstion. Any idea how to fix the certificate issue?!

[mvalkanov]

Hi,

The WebClient should trust the VR plugin URL based on serverThumbrint value of the com.vmware.vcHms vCenter extension.

See the vCenter ExtensionManager for com.vmware.vcHms, server property (use vCenter credentials when prompted for login at the Managed Object Browser):

https://vcenter_address/mob/?moid=ExtensionManager&doPath=extensionList%5b%22com%2evmware%2evcHms%22...

If the thumbprint there does not match the one of https://vr_appliance:5480/client/ngcplugin-55.zip, it will fail. You can check the actual thumbprint by opening https://vr_appliance:5480/ in a browser and observe the certificate thumbprint when you click on the locker icon before the https URL.

Doing "Save and restart" from the VR appliance VAMI UI will re-create the vCenter Server extension and you can try once again logout+login at the WebClient.

If the issue persists - please file a SR, so that the support team can assist.

Regards,

Martin