Verifying and reinstalling the correct version of the VirtualCenter Server agents
Symptoms
- Configuring VMware High Availability (HA) fails
- If you try to configure VMware HA, you see the error:
Could not Enable aam firewall ruleset :vim.fault.HostConfigFault
- You cannot connect an ESX host to VirtualCenter
- If you try to connect an ESX host to VirtualCenter, you see the error:
unable to access the specified host, either it doesn't exist, the server software is not responding, or there is a network problem
- The hostd.log file contains the entry:
[2008-05-26 10:45:51.463 'Vmomi' 15752112 info] Throw vim.fault.AlreadyExists
[2008-05-26 10:45:51.463 'Vmomi' 15752112 info] Result:
(vim.fault.AlreadyExists) {
name = "vpxuser"
msg = ""
}
Purpose
Resolution
Note: Proceed directly to Reinstalling the agents on ESX if you see the following error when you try to connect an ESX host to VirtualCenter:
unable to access the specified host, either it doesn't exist, the server software is not responding, or there is a network problem.
Verifying that the correct version of VirtualCenter agents are installed on ESXi
To verify that the correct version of VirtualCenter is installed:
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To determine the version and build number of your VirtualCenter installation, click Help > About from within VirtualCenter.
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Right-click on the ESX host and click Disconnect to disconnect the ESX host from VirtualCenter.
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Log in as root to the ESX host using an SSH client.
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Run the following command to determine the version of the VirtualCenter agent (vpxa) that is installed:
[root@esx-server /]# rpm -qa | grep vpxa
The output appears similar to:
VMware-vpxa-2.5.0-64192 -
Ensure that the output matches the information from step 1. If the versions do not match, reinstall the agents.
Reinstalling the agents on ESX
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Disconnect the ESX host in VirtualCenter. Right-click the host and click Disconnect.
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Log in as root to the ESX host using an SSH client.
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Paste the following string of commands into the SSH session:
service mgmt-vmware stop && service vmware-vpxa stop && service vmware-vmkauthd stop && service xinetd restart && rpm -qa | grep -i vpxa | awk '{print $1}' | xargs rpm -ef $1 && userdel vpxuser && rpm -qa | grep -i aam | awk '{print $1}' | xargs rpm -ef $1 && service mgmt-vmware start && service vmware-vmkauthd start
Note: This is a concatenated list of commands strung together with the "&&" operator. This is useful in stringing together multiple commands as the next command does not start until the previous one has completed successfully.
Here is a description of the commands: -
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The service mgmt-vmware stop && service vmware-vpxa stop && service vmware-vmkauthd stop && service xinetd restart command stops the management services for the service console.
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The rpm -qa | grep -i vpxa | awk '{print $1}' | xargs rpm -ef $1 command removes the vpxa agent.
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The userdel vpxuser command removes the vpxa user that gets installed once you connect the host to VirtualCenter.
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The rpm -qa | grep -i aam | awk '{print $1}' | xargs rpm -ef $1 command removes the AAM RPM (HA) which gets reinstalled when you configure HA.
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The service mgmt-vmware start && service vmware-vmkauthd start command following restarts the services.
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The vmware-cmd -l command lets you know when hostd is up and running so you can reattach it to VirtualCenter.
Note: When you see a list of virtual machines output, the command sequence is complete.
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Log in to the VirtualCenter Server using VMware Infrastructure (VI) Client.
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Choose the ESX host from the Inventory.
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Right-click on the ESX host and click Connect. This step initiates a re-install of the agent.
Reinstalling the VMware HA components on ESX
To reinstall the VMware HA components:
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Remove the ESX host from the VirtualCenter Inventory.
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Log in as root to the ESX service console.
- Type rpm -qa | grep -i aam
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This returns two packages that are named similar to:
-
-
VMware-aam-haa-#.#.#-#
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VMware-aam-vcint-#.#.#-#
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Remove these packages using rpm -e followed by the name of one of the returned packages. Repeat for both files.
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Run the command:
rpm -qa | grep -i vpxa
A package named VMware-vpxa-#.#.#-##### is returned.
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Remove this package using rpm -e followed by the name of one of the returned packages.
- Test adding the host to the newly created cluster to see if this has resolved the issue.
Verifying that the correct version of VirtualCenter is installed on ESXi
- To determine the version and build number of your VirtualCenter installation, click Help > About from within VirtualCenter.
- Right-click on the ESXi host and click Disconnect to disconnect the ESXi host from VirtualCenter.
- Log in to ESXi Troubleshooting Mode. For more information, see .
- Run the following command to determine the version of the VirtualCenter agent (vpxa) that is installed:
[root@esx-server /]# cat `ls -t /var/log/vmware/vpx/vpxa*` | head -1
The output appears similar to:
Log for VMware VirtualCenter Agent, pid=1976, version=2.5.0, build=build-147633, option=Release, section=394
- Ensure that the output matches the information from step 1. If the versions do not match, reinstall the agents.
Reinstalling the agents and VMware HA agents on ESXi
- Right-click on the ESXi host and click Disconnect. This disconnects the ESXi host from the VirtualCenter Inventory.
- Log in to ESXi Troubleshooting Mode. For more information, see .
- Uninstall the vpxa and aam components from the VMware ESXi host using the following commands:
/opt/vmware/uninstallers/VMware-vpxa-uninstall.sh
/opt/vmware/uninstallers/VMware-aam-ha-uninstall.sh
- Right-click on the ESXi host and click Connect. This initiates a re-install of the vpxa agent.
- Add the host to the appropriate cluster. This initiates a re-install of the aam agent.
- Verify that /tmp/vmware-root exists on the ESX host. vCenter stages the vpxa RPM in this folder. To add this directory, execute:
mkdir -p /tmp/vmware-root
- For more information on investigating disk space problems on ESX hosts, see .
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