I wanted to upgrade my 6.0u1b Windows vCenters to 6.0u2 to start off the QA process, but unfortunately I hit a 1603 error. The TSE I worked with saw a few errors from VMware Syslog Collector and some internal PRs. The following is what he saw in my logs:
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./VMware-VCS-logs-20160328151544/vminst.log 2016-03-28 15:12:20.292-05:00| vcsInstUtil-3634789| I: StartStopVCSServices: Running command '"C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe" /S > /C ""E:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\bin\service-control.bat"" --start --all'... 2016-03-28 15:12:20.292-05:00| vcsInstUtil-3634789| I: StartStopVCSServices: Waiting for VC services to start... 2016-03-28 15:15:44.773-05:00| vcsInstUtil-3634789| E: StartStopVCSServices: Unable to start VC services 2016-03-28 15:15:44.773-05:00| vcsInstUtil-3634789| I: Leaving function: VM_StartVcsServices 2016-03-28 15:15:44.788-05:00| vcsInstUtil-3634789| E: LaunchPkgMgr: Overall operation has failed 2016-03-28 15:15:44.819-05:00| vcsInstUtil-3634789| I: Entering function: VM_FinishInstallWithError ./VMware-VCS-logs-20160328151544/vcs_logs/firstboot/run-updateboot-scripts.log 2016-03-28T20:05:05.929Z Successfully started service vdcs Service: vmsyslogcollector, Action: start 2016-03-28T20:05:05.943Z State for service vmsyslogcollector: STOPPED Unable to start service vmsyslogcollector, Exception: { "resolution": null, "detail": [ { "args": [ "vmsyslogcollector" ], "id": "install.ciscommon.service.failstart", "localized": "An error occurred while starting service 'vmsyslogcollector'", "translatable": "An error occurred while starting service '%(0)s'" } ], "componentKey": null, "problemId": null } 2016-03-28T20:05:11.302Z ERROR run-updateboot-scripts Failed to start all services. RC=1. Details: INFO:root:Service: vmware-cis-config, Action: start . . . INFO:root:Service: vdcs, Action: start INFO:root:Service: vmsyslogcollector, Action: start 2016-03-28T20:05:11.160Z Error waiting for service vmsyslogcollector start. Exit code: 0 Current State: 1 ERROR:root:Unable to start service vmsyslogcollector, Exception: { "resolution": null, "detail": [ { "args": [ "vmsyslogcollector" ], "id": "install.ciscommon.service.failstart", "localized": "An error occurred while starting service 'vmsyslogcollector'", "translatable": "An error occurred while starting service '%(0)s'" } ], "componentKey": null, "problemId": null } |
If you go to services.msc, you may see the VMware Syslog Collector NOT started even though it’s set to start automatically
Open C:\ProgramData\VMware\vCenterServer\cfg\vmsyslogcollector\
make a copy of config.xml
Open config.xml in Notepad, you may see something like this with a lot of variables:
Replace the contents with the following. Adjust the install path and the vCenter name as needed:
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<Config> <defaultInstallPath>C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmsyslogcollector\</defaultInstallPath> <defaultConfigPath>C:\ProgramData\VMware\vCenterServer\cfg\vmsyslogcollector\</defaultConfigPath> <defaultLogPath>C:\ProgramData\VMware\vCenterServer\logs\vmsyslogcollector\</defaultLogPath> <defaultDataPath>C:\ProgramData\VMware\vCenterServer\data\vmsyslogcollector</defaultDataPath> <serviceAddress>ENTER YOUR VCENTER FQDN HERE</serviceAddress> <defaultWebPort>8109</defaultWebPort> <defaultValues> <maxSize>2</maxSize> <rotate>8</rotate> <port>514</port> <protocol>tcp,udp</protocol> <sslPort>1514</sslPort> </defaultValues> <ssl> <defaultSSLPath>C:\ProgramData\VMware\vCenterServer\cfg\vmsyslogcollector\ssl</defaultSSLPath> <privateKey>vmsyslogcollector.key</privateKey> <certificate>vmsyslogcollector.crt</certificate> </ssl> <vCenterServer> <address>ENTER YOUR VCENTER FQDN HERE</address> <port>80</port> <user>Administrator@vsphere.local</user> </vCenterServer> <messageFormat> <hostnamePosition>1</hostnamePosition> </messageFormat> <events> <start>C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmsyslogcollector\bin\vecsync.bat</start> <stop></stop> </events> <debug> <level>1</level> </debug> </Config> |
Run the following
service-control –start –all
Validate that Syslog Collector is running, retry the upgrade
We were the first ones who had this issue 2 days after update 2 came out and we thought that it was only an issue in our environment… VMware support did not find a solution in the call and finally we manually edited the config as shown in the article.
I am just glad VMware created an internal PR from our problem so they can help others…
It seems I have you to thank then! The TSE mentioned that this issue also occurred when people were upgrading to 6 or 6u1 as well. I also saw another KB for a different problem that said to disable syslog collector. What a crappy service, maybe that’s why LI is being given away with 25 OSI.
Disabling the service also lets the installer complete.
I saw this on several occasions with U1, but only solution from VMware support was to disable the syslog collector.
Glad to have this solved, thanks!