vSphere Cluster Services VMs powers off/on unexpectedly

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Starting with vSphere 7.0 Update 1, the vSphere Clustering Services (vCLS) is made mandatory deploying its VMs on each vSphere cluster. Customer observed the vCLS being powered off and on unexpectedly.

Symptoms:

• The tasks panel in the vSphere Client UI displays daily errors.
• You see an error similar to:
  
  Cluster Agent VM vCLS (xyz) or vCLS-xyz on Cluster abc Is expected to be powered on.
   
• In the /var/log/vmware/wcp/wcpsvc.log file of the vCenter Server, you see entries similar to:
  
  info wcp [clustersvc/passwordmonitor.go:137] [opID=vCLS] Rotating password for ClusterComputeResource:domain-cXXXX
  info wcp [clustersvc/controller.go:162] [opID=vCLS] Received an operation from an emitter's channel: *eamagency.RotatePassword
   

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 7.0.0

Cause

vCLS powered off and on occurs because vCLS has a password manager and after every 60 days, the Password Manager password is changed which triggers a password change for all vCLS VMs in that cluster. The password reconfiguration of vCLS VMs required powered off.

Resolution

There is no solution as it is per design.

Additional Information

Impact/Risks:
There is no functional impact of this issue on any of the vCLS-dependent services like DRS. However, from a user perspective, there will be a downtime for vCLS.