Unable to open the Virtual Machine Console for Cloud Director Availability test failovers in Cloud Director 10.5.1

Products

• VMware Cloud Director

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• When attempting to open a remote console for a Cloud Director Availability test failover in Cloud Director or vCenter Server, you see an error similar to:
   
  You have reached the maximum number of connected consoles: 5
   
• This issue occurs if you are using Cloud Director 10.5.1 and the Replication Tracking Virtual Machine (RT VM) placement solution introduced in Cloud Director Availability 4.7.

Environment

VMware Cloud Director Availability 4.x
VMware Cloud Director 10.x

Cause

This issue occurs because Cloud Director disables multiple methods when constructing the test image using the RT VM to prevent potential issues with the underlying replication. Methods included in this configuration prevent the remote console from acquiring a valid ticket for a test image, which in turn prevents the console session from being initiated correctly.

Resolution

This is a known issue affecting Cloud Director 10.5.1.
Currently, there is no resolution.

Workaround:
To workaround this issue, modify the methods Cloud Director disables for RT VMs in both Test Failover and Replication modes via the Cell Management Tool on one of the Cloud Director cells.

Note: This procedure only changes the behaviour for new test failovers and will not impact existing test images. For test images that are currently experiencing the issue, the test failover will need to be recreated after the following steps have been completed.

1. Create a backup of the destination Cloud Director environment.
2. Open an SSH session to one of the Cloud Director cells at the destination location.
3. Use the Cell Management Tool command to modify the disabled methods list for RT VMs in Test Failover mode:

/opt/vmware/vcloud-director/bin/cell-management-tool manage-config -n TestFailoverModeRtVmDisabledMethods -v "CreateSecondaryVM_Task; CreateSecondaryVMEx_Task; DisableSecondaryVM_Task; EnableSecondaryVM_Task; InstantClone_Task; MakePrimaryVM_Task; MarkAsTemplate; MarkAsVirtualMachine; MigrateVM_Task; RelocateVM_Task; RemoveAllSnapshots_Task; SendNMI; setCustomValue; StartRecording_Task; StartReplaying_Task; StopRecording_Task; StopReplaying_Task; TerminateFaultTolerantVM_Task; TurnOffFaultToleranceForVM_Task; CloneVM_Task; Destroy_Task; PromoteDisks_Task; ConsolidateVMDisks_Task; DefragmentAllDisks;"

4. Use the Cell Management Tool command to modify the disabled methods list for RT VMs in Replication mode:

/opt/vmware/vcloud-director/bin/cell-management-tool manage-config -n ReplicationModeRtVmDisabledMethods -v "AcquireMksTicket; AcquireTicket; AnswerVM; ApplyEvcModeVM_Task; AttachDisk_Task; CheckCustomizationSpec; ConsolidateVMDisks_Task; CreateScreenshot_Task; CreateSecondaryVM_Task; CreateSecondaryVMEx_Task; CryptoUnlock_Task; CustomizeVM_Task; DefragmentAllDisks; DetachDisk_Task; DisableSecondaryVM_Task; EnableSecondaryVM_Task; ExtractOvfEnvironment; InstantClone_Task; MakePrimaryVM_Task; MarkAsTemplate; MarkAsVirtualMachine; MigrateVM_Task; MountToolsInstaller; PowerOffVM_Task; PowerOnVM_Task; PromoteDisks_Task; PutUsbScanCodes; QueryChangedDiskAreas; QueryUnownedFiles; RebootGuest; RefreshStorageInfo; Reload; RelocateVM_Task; RemoveAllSnapshots_Task; ResetGuestInformation; ResetVM_Task; SendNMI; setCustomValue; SetDisplayTopology; SetScreenResolution; ShutdownGuest; StandbyGuest; StartRecording_Task; StartReplaying_Task; StopRecording_Task; StopReplaying_Task; SuspendVM_Task; TerminateFaultTolerantVM_Task; TerminateVM; TurnOffFaultToleranceForVM_Task; UnmountToolsInstaller; UpgradeTools_Task; CloneVM_Task;"

Note: These changes apply to the entire Cloud Director instance and only needs to be run once on any Cloud Director cell.

5. Confirm that the changes have applied using the following commands:

/opt/vmware/vcloud-director/bin/cell-management-tool manage-config -n TestFailoverModeRtVmDisabledMethods -l
 
/opt/vmware/vcloud-director/bin/cell-management-tool manage-config -n ReplicationModeRtVmDisabledMethods -l

Note: These commands will not return any values prior to the updates made in the previous step.

 

Additional Information

If the default settings are preferred, the following commands can be performed to reset the commands to the original behaviour:

/opt/vmware/vcloud-director/bin/cell-management-tool manage-config -n TestFailoverModeRtVmDisabledMethods -d
 
/opt/vmware/vcloud-director/bin/cell-management-tool manage-config -n ReplicationModeRtVmDisabledMethods -d