vCenter Troubleshooting

Chuck Mills

• Publisher: Packt Publishing
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781783554034
• Topic: Informatica
• Subtopic: Virtualizzazione

vCenter Troubleshooting

---

Table of Contents

vCenter Troubleshooting

Credits

About the Author

About the Reviewers

www.PacktPub.com

Support files, eBooks, discount offers, and more

Why subscribe?

Free access for Packt account holders

Instant updates on new Packt books

Preface

What this book covers

What you need for this book

Who this book is for

Conventions

Reader feedback

Customer support

Errata

Piracy

Questions

1. vCenter Upgrades and Migrations

Best practices for upgrading to vCenter Server

Verifying basic compatibility before upgrading the vCenter Server

Preparing the database before the upgrade

Verifying network prerequisites before upgrading

Verifying whether ODBC communicates with the database

Verifying whether time is synchronized across the vSphere environment

New and updated information in vSphere 6

Platform Services Controller (PSC)

vCenter Server Appliance

vSphere web client

vSphere Client

Steps for upgrading vCenter

Migrating vCenter from SQL Express to SQL Server

Migrating the SSO database

Migrating the vCenter database

Changing the vCenter ODBC connection

Recreating the SQL jobs

Deploying vCenter Server Appliance with no DHCP server

Upgrading from Windows vCenter 5.1 to vCenter Server Appliance

Summary

2. Working with the vCenter Database

Changing the vCenter database location

Growing the vCenter Server database

Reinitializing the vCenter Server database

Fixing the vCenter Server service and database connection issues

Recovering from an improper shutdown of VCSA

Resolving low and no space problems

Low space problems

Problems with no space

Resources for other database issues

Summary

3. Setting Access and Permissions

Introducing vCenter Single Sign-On

Unlocking and resetting the SSO administrator password

vCenter SSO Version 5.1

Resetting the administrator password with VCSA 5.1

vCenter Single Sign-On for version 5.5

Resetting the administrator password when using VCSA 5.6

Expired passwords in vSphere 5.1

VMware vCenter server 5.5 U1c release SSO and VCAC

Updating the VCSA from a zipped update bundle

Updating the VCSA from the CD-ROM drive

Adding additional Active Directory authentication in vCenter SSO 5.5

Permissions for vCenter and vCenter Operations Manager

Tips for troubleshooting vCenter permissions

Summary

4. Monitoring and Performance Considerations

Overview of disk I/O performance

Getting ESXi host and VM disk I/O information

Getting information using the vSphere client

Getting information using the service console ESXi Shell

Pinpointing the most I/O-intensive virtual machines

Other items to increase disk I/O performance

Changing Java memory usage for performance

Changing the Java heap setting for vCenter

Making changes to the vCenter inventory services

Making changes to the profile-driven storage services

Fixing issues with performance data that do not appear in vCenter

Method 1 – Log in to the ESXi host directly using the vSphere Client

Method 2 – Restart the management agent using the Direct Console User Interface

Summary

5. Working with Storage

Deleting virtual machine snapshots that have locked files

Troubleshooting the locked files

Removing the file from a backup virtual appliance

Performing the Delete All action from the Snapshot Manager

Restarting the management agents

Moving the Virtual Machine and rebooting the host

Unmounting a LUN from ESXi hosts

Unmounting a LUN using the vSphere Client

Unmounting a LUN using the command line

Automating datastores detaching with PowerCLI

Using vCenter operations for troubleshooting storage devices

Installing the Management Pack

Installing the Management Pack in the vCOps vApp

Installing the Management Pack in the vCOps Standalone Installation

Performing the Management Pack installation procedure

Installing Management Pack Dashboards in a standalone environment

Adding a credential to the Management Pack

Summary

6. Solving Some Not-so-common vCenter Issues

Solving the problem of no objects in vCenter

Fixing the VPXD must be stopped to perform this operation message

Removing unwanted plugins in vSphere

Summary

7. Backup and Recovery

Procedure for backing up vCenter SSO 5.5

Creating a backup of Windows registry keys

Creating a backup of the VMware Inventory Service Database

Restoring the vCenter SSO 5.5 configuration

Restoring from a vCenter SSO 5.5 full operating system-level backup

Restoring from a vCenter 5.5 database backup

Summary

8. Additional Support Methods and Tools

VMware vCenter Support Assistant

Requirements for the vCenter Support Assistant

Hardware

Networking

Installing and configuring the vCenter Support Assistant

VMware Labs Flings

The Latency Sensitivity Troubleshooting Tool

The VM Resource and Availability Service

The I/O Analyzer

InventorySnapshot

Finding resources to support your VMware environment

Summary

9. Troubleshooting Methods

Troubleshooting workflow

A questionable incident is discovered

Does the incident have a negative impact?

Understand the incident to document the impact

Is it possible to isolate the incident?

Remove unrelated variables

Are you able to repeat the incident?

Attempt to reproduce and record variables

Record relevant information

Can the cause be found...