vSphere Server Harware Status and Serivce Status Plugin Error

[JSCSJSCS]

After installing the vSphere server upgrade I see the following in the plugins managagement:

vCenter Hardware Status VMware, Inc. 4.0

Disabled

Displays the hardware status of hosts (CIM monitoring)

The following error occured while downloading the script plugin from https://WINXP:8443/cim-ui/scriptConfig.xml:

Unable to connect to the remote server

vCenter Service Status VMware, Inc. 4.0

Disabled

Displays the health status of vCenter services

The following error occured while downloading the script plugin from

:

Unable to connect to the remote server

I am guessing that I mistyped the user name or password durring the install, but I cannot for the life of me find where to change it now.

Or maybe there is some other problem? I don't suspect a firewall issue, as I turned it off to test and still go the same problem (will not enable)

Jim s.

[Troy_Clavell]

maybe this KB, , will help?

[JSCSJSCS]

The knowledge base article was not exactly my issue, but I gave it a try. I have the same issue as before, except the error has an IP address where the server name used to be. I rebooted the server just in case. No change.

I get the same issue even when I run the Client to connect to the Server on the localhost running the server. The server should know its own name without needing to go to DNS. I am not using any domain for this test infrustructure. All workgroup based.

Jim S.

[JSCSJSCS]

I did some research and determined that port 8443 has something to do with Tomcat web services. I tried to telnet to the port and the response was unable to connect. I also figured that the Server web access probably used that port. When I tried to access web services I got a 503 error.

I looked in the Services on the vSphere Server and saw VMware VirtualCenter Management Webservices. It was set for Automatic but was not running.

I started the service manually and then checked the plugin status. The errors were gone and the services in question were enabled. I restarted the server to get back to a default configuration and looked at the Services again. It was still set to Automatic, but again was not running.

I looked in the Event log and in the System Log I found this:

The VMware VirtualCenter Management Webservices service depends on the VMware VirtualCenter Server service which failed to start because of the following error: The service has returned a service-specific error code.

Now I had some problems with vCenter Server not starting because the SQL Express service was not running before it started. This was a while ago and I had to fix it by creating a startup script. This was a suggestion to one of posts for help. To fix that issue, I had to set those services to manually start and add the following startup script via gpedit.msc to control which loaded first:

net start MSSQL$SQLEXP_VIM

ping 127.0.0.1 -n 120 -w 1000 > null

net start vpxd

I then noticed that after I upgraded to vSphere, the installation must have changed my setting for the VPXD service because it was set back to Automatic. MSSQL$SQLEXP_VM was still set to Manual. So I wondered if vSphere 4 had fixed my previous issue and I could revert back to the defaults? I removed the startup script and set those services to Automatic and rebooted Server, hoping for the best. No Luck. VMware did not fix that issue in vSphere. So everything back to manual.

Also set Management web services to Manual and added another ping delay and "net start vctomcat" to the bottom of the startup script and set that to start on startup. Another reboot....it worked! Here was my final startup script:

net start MSSQL$SQLEXP_VIM

ping 127.0.0.1 -n 60 -w 1000 > null

net start vpxd

ping 127.0.0.1 -n 60 -w 1000 > null

net start vctomcat

I now do not have any errors in the plugins (still working on converter plugin causing the client to crash), and I have web access too.

Do I get any point for posting my own answer?

[Troy_Clavell]

handwork and dedication paid off, very well done!

You get points for opening a discussion, maybe that will be some reward.

Glad to see you got it resolved

[aenagy]

Rather than using a startup script to start the dependant services you can configure the 'vctomcat' service to wait for the database service. If you can edit the 'DependOnService' registry key in "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\vctomcat" by inserting the database service name, for example "MSSQL$SQLEXP_VIM", in the correct spot in the list. See screen shot.

This Microsoft article explains how to configure one service to not start until another service has started. The example below are for two services totally unrelated to VMware, but the principle is still the same.

Troubleshooting Netlogon Event 5774, 5775, and 5781