VCHA service cannot start on vCenter Server when Active node's VCHA vNIC is disconnected.

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vCenter Server 7.0

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• In /var/log/vmware/vmon/vmon.log, below message can be found:
  

  yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss.mssZ Er(02) host-2237 <vcha> Service pre-start command failed with exit code 1.

• In /var/log/vmware/vcha/fixVchaConfigFiles.log, the below message can be found:
  

  yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss.mssZ ERROR fixVchaConfigFiles Error updating configuration
  Traceback (most recent call last):
    File "/usr/lib/vmware-vcha/scripts/fixVchaConfigFiles.py", line 161, in main
      updateConfiguration()
    File "/usr/lib/vmware-vcha/scripts/fixVchaConfigFiles.py", line 84, in updateConfiguration
      selfIp = getIpAddress(NODE_PRIVATE_IP_IFNAME)
    File "/usr/lib/vmware-vcha/scripts/util.py", line 59, in getIpAddress
      raise Exception("Failed to get IP address.")
  Exception: Failed to get IP address.

This issue can happen with procedure below:

1. Edit VCHA Active node's VCHA vNIC to "disconnected" in VM's settings to trigger VCHA failover.
2. After all services on Passive node start, vCenter Server access can recover.
3. Now VCHA service cannot start on Active node, even after connect VCHA vNIC on Active node.

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 7.x 
VMware vCenter Server 8.x 

Cause

If the VCHA vNIC is disconnected, the service won't start because it needs an IP address to work
Even after the vNIC is connected, VCHA cannot start.

Resolution

1. Make sure all vNICs on Active/Passive/Witness nodes are connected.
2. Execute service-control --start --all to start related services manually.

Additional Information

Impact/Risks:
Usually such issue happens in test scenario.