USER PRESENTATIONIssues Encountered while Migrating to vCenter and

SRM 5.5

WHO AM I?

• solution architect

• virtualization specialist

• newbie blogger

• geek by nature :-)

• tech enthusiast

Joel Gibson

@empiricvirtual

empiricvirtualization.com

joel.gibson at live.ca

WHY ME?

• Scott Lowe: Putting the User Back in VMware User Group (http://bit.ly/TpPSBm)

• Cody Bunch: On Putting the User Back Into User Group (http://bit.ly/1jKePhn)

–Louis L’Amour

“Knowledge is like money: to be of value it must circulate, and in circulating it can increase in quantity and, hopefully, in

value.”

COMMUNITY

SURVEY

• Which version of vCenter Server?

• vCenter Server Appliance?

• Site Recovery Manager?

VCENTER SERVER 5.5• Released September 2013 [reference vSphere 5.5 release notes]

• New features:

• Single Sign-On Overhauled

• VCSA supports up to 100 hosts, or 3000 VMs

• App HA

• 62 TB VMDKs and RDMs

• Improved interoperability of Storage vMotion and SDRS with vSphere Replication

• and many more …

ISSUES ENCOUNTERED WHILE MIGRATING TO

VCENTER AND SRM 5.5

ENVIRONMENT

• vCenter Server 5.5

• Site Recovery Manager 5.5

• Windows Server 2012

• SQL Server 2012 R2

Logging-in to a Fresh Install of vCenter Server 5.5

using Domain Credentials

• posts within the community [1][2] referred to an issue:

• the only user that could log-in to a fresh install of vCenter server was the SSO administrator (administrator@vsphere.local)

• in my initial testing, I had not encountered this problem

• then found the problem in my home labReferences

[1] “How to log in to Single Sign ON SSO in vSphere 5.5.” [Online]. Available: http://www.vfrank.org/2013/09/23/how-to-log-in-to-single-sign-on-sso-in-vsphere-5-5/. [Accessed: 17-Jan–2014].

[2] “vSphere 5.5 vCenter server inventory 0 - frankdenneman.nl.” [Online]. Available: http://frankdenneman.nl/2014/01/16/vsphere-5-5-vcenter-server-0-inventory/. [Accessed: 17-Jan–2014].

PROBLEM DESCRIPTION:

Logging-in to a Fresh Install of vCenter Server 5.5

using Domain Credentials

Scenario 1

Scenario 2

SYMPTOM:

Logging-in to a Fresh Install of vCenter Server 5.5

using Domain Credentials

Build 1312299

Build 1476387

SYMPTOM:

Logging-in to a Fresh Install of vCenter Server 5.5

using Domain CredentialsExcerpt from VMware's vCenter Server 5.5.0b release notes:

“Active Directory is not added automatically as identity resource in vCenter Single Sign-On

When you initially install the vCenter Single Sign-On in a Windows system that is part of an Active Directory, the Active Directory is not automatically added as the default identity resource in the vCenter Single Sign-On server.

This issue is resolved in this release [3].”

References

[3] “vCenter Server 5.5.0b Release Notes.” [Online]. Available: https://www.vmware.com/support/vsphere5/doc/vsphere-vcenter-server-550b-release-notes.html#resolvedissuessso. [Accessed: 24-Jan-2014].

1. Determine which AD (Active Directory) user or group should initially be granted administrative access to the vCenter.

2. Verify you are using Build 1476387 or newer. (5.5.0b+)

3. During the installation of vCenter Single Sign-On, verify that SSO detects the domain that you would like as the native identity source.

4. Finally, during the installation of vCenter Server, change the default administrator.

Logging-in to a Fresh Install of vCenter Server 5.5

using Domain Credentials

SOLUTION:

Logging-in to a Fresh Install of vCenter Server 5.5

using Domain Credentials

RESULT:

Connecting to vSphere Web Client Fails

• HTTP Error 404

SYMPTOM:

1. Uninstall vSphere Web Client.

2. When installing the vSphere Web Client, maintain the default installation directory.

• Avoid installing this component to an alternate drive (i.e. D:) or location, or a directory path containing spaces [4].

SOLUTION:

References

[4] “VMware KB: Connecting to vSphere Web Client fails with the error: HTTP Status 404.” [Online]. Available: http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=2044953. [Accessed: 09-Apr–2014].

Connecting to vSphere Web Client Fails

Encountered a Perl Error While Installing SRM

• SRM installation fails with the following message: “Failed to update Perl installation directories…”

SYMPTOM:

• When specifying the installation directory for SRM, avoid using long path names or spaces. Instead, use short paths: (i.e. D:\SRM) [5].

SOLUTION:

References

[5] “VMware KB: Installing Site Recovery Manager fails with the error: Failed to update Perl installation directories.” [Online]. Available: http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1028918. [Accessed: 09-Apr–2014].

Encountered a Perl Error While Installing SRM

Storage Monitoring Service Fails

• This issue can present itself in a few different ways:

• very evident when looking at the overall health of the vCenter Server from the Server Status screen.

• storage view tab reports an error [6]

• vws.log file contains error:

• “tomcat-http--40 ERROR com.vmware.vim.health.VcAuthorize] VC session has expired and could not be authenticated [6]”

• “com.vmware.vim.binding.vim.fault.NotAuthenticated: The session is not authenticated. [6]”

SYMPTOM:

• This may be encountered when a custom service account is being used to start the vCenter Server, instead of the default Local System account.

• Ensure that the VMware vSphere Profile-Drive Storage Service is also being run using the same service account as the VMware VirtualCenter Service [6].

SOLUTION:

References

[6] “VMware KB: VMware vCenter Storage Monitoring Service fails with the error: Service initialization failed after upgrading to vCenter 5.5.” [Online]. Available: http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=2060967. [Accessed: 09-Apr–2014].

Storage Monitoring Service Fails

Update Manager Fails to Start(specific to SQL Server 2012)

• The VMware Update Manager service fails to start when using an SQL Server 2012 database.

• The vmware-vum-server.log file contains the following messages:

“013-05-20T12:03:57.325+01:00 [05032 error 'Default'] Unable to allocate memory: 4294967294 bytes

013-05-20T12:03:57.332+01:00 [05032 info 'Default'] CoreDump:

Writing minidump

013-05-20T12:03:57.406+01:00 [05032 panic 'Default']

Panic: Unable to allocate memory [7]”

SYMPTOM:

• After installing VUM using the native ODBC client, I was able to initially connect to Update Manager using the the vSphere Client; however, at some point I began to consistently see this issue.

• To work around this, I removed the native SQL Server ODBC DSN for the VUM database, and replaced it with the non-native client.

• This solution may seem a bit counter intuitive, but it is based on a VMware KB [7].

• However, you may experience issues when you go to upgrade VUM in the future, as the native client is required to successfully install VUM.

SOLUTION:

References

[7] “VMware KB: VMware vSphere Update Manager 5.x fails to start when using SQL Server 2012.” [Online]. Available: http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=2050256. [Accessed: 09-Apr–2014].

Update Manager Fails to Start(specific to SQL Server 2012)

QUESTIONS?Thank You