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wattpeter
Contributor
Contributor

Wizard fails with time offset

vRealize 7.4 Automation Installation Wizard fails with message:

Time offset for <IAAS HOSTNAME> is missing. Please wait for it to be populated.

IaaS host is Windows 2016.

30 Replies
daphnissov
Immortal
Immortal

Show some screenshots from your installation. You should also be pointing to an internal NTP server and not sync with ESXi's local time.

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wattpeter
Contributor
Contributor

Problem was that VRA and IAAS servers were in different DNS namespaces.

Documentation talks about "same domain", I though this meant Windows domain.

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daphnissov
Immortal
Immortal

They can be in different DNS zones, but they still must have cross-lookup capabilities, and time keeping must still be accurate.

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Darren_DnFn
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I am having the exact same problem. I have tried numberous ways of trying to fix it, including deleting the VM for the vRA Appliance and re-deploying it. My name resolution is working fine and I even have my windows server (2016) connected to our labs stratum 1 server. I installed ESXi 6.5.0 on a seperate server that is set to UTC time, which apparently you cannot change anymore. I also tried following a very thorough guide from this website I found https://adventuresinclouds.com/2016/01/17/installing-minimal-vra-7-part-1-which-version-for-the-lab/ and still no luck. Not sure what I am missing. Any help would be much appreciated.

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Darren_DnFn
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I got a few more screenshots
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daphnissov
Immortal
Immortal

Can you show what the wizard shows for the nodes and their time skew?

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Darren_DnFn
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Time sync
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Darren_DnFn
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

time configuration
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Darren_DnFn
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

So here is the wizard one. No time offset at all. Great Mystery
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daphnissov
Immortal
Immortal

I'm asking about the vRA installation wizard, after you've installed the Management Agent and at the first step where it lists those nodes.

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Darren_DnFn
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

The only other step in the wizard other than licence agreement was the deployment option, I didn't get a listing of the nodes. I haven't come accross that screen in my research, do you have a screenshot of the nodes page. Maybe I didn't get it.
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daphnissov
Immortal
Immortal

I'm confused then. Where are you getting a failure when going through the vRA deployment if you aren't using the wizard?

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Darren_DnFn
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I am using the wizard. I am getting at the installation prerequisities page. I think you lost me, is this screenshot the nodes?
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daphnissov
Immortal
Immortal

What version of vRA is this? Can you uninstall and re-install the Management Agent on this 2016 machine and screenshot the process?

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Darren_DnFn
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I am trying to install vRA version 7.2.0. I unistalled and reinstalled the management agent a few times as well. Here is the most important page.
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daphnissov
Immortal
Immortal

Server 2016 isn't a supported OS to host the IaaS components if you're doing vRA 7.2. So you either need to be on 7.3.1 or 7.4.

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Darren_DnFn
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Oh, I see. I didn't even think of that. It is always the simplest of things that end up being the source of the problem :smileysilly:

Thanks for your help, I will get the latest version of vRA and try again.

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Darren_DnFn
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Still no luck,daphnissov because I am just using this as a test environment I couldn't find a trail download for vRA version 7.3.1 or 7.4. So instead I just downgraded my Server to Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard. After setting everything back up again, time offset is still missing and I don't get why. Is it possible that I am missing a component in Windows Server to get this to function, because now it is a fresh install. When I finished installing vCenter, I installed SQL Server 2012 Express as part of the Update Manager install, rather than having a separate SQL Server. I am just doing an embedded deployment just so I can test things out in the lab. While this website has been tremendous help with setting up a bunch of features  https://adventuresinclouds.com/ I made a few changes. I don't have Active Directory in place, the installer for vCenter doesn't like domain controllers, and I don't really want to have a whole other server, virtual or physical, just for AD. I just have DNS and also instead of a VCSA I went with the Windows version of vCenter Server. If you have any other ideas, let me know. I am still fairly new to vSphere as a whole, so I am kind of figuring it out as I go.

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daphnissov
Immortal
Immortal

I think you not having AD is playing a part in this. Even though you have a lab, you really need to build AD. If you don't want to stand up MS AD, you can easily use something like Zentyal Linux in a 1 x 1 VM to give you that plus DNS. In my experience, I've never deployed a vRA stack without this and am not even sure it's supported to do so.

Also, I'd highly *highly* recommend you throw that Windows vCenter away and deploy the appliance version. Not only is it more performant but it's much easier to install and configure and doesn't require a separate SQL server (but vRA IaaS components still do).

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