Patching vCenter Server from 7.0U1 - U2b to 7.0U3o failed because eam service failed to start.

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• Patching vCenter Server from 7.0U1 - U2b to 7.0U3o failed because eam service failed to start.
• Source vCenter was restored from file-based backup in the past.
• Eam failed to start with following error in /var/log/vmware/eam/jvm.log.stderr

Exception in thread "main" java.lang.ExceptionInInitializerError
Caused by: org.apache.juli.logging.LogConfigurationException: java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException
        at org.apache.juli.logging.LogFactory.getInstance(LogFactory.java:136)
        at org.apache.juli.logging.LogFactory.getInstance(LogFactory.java:153)
        at org.apache.juli.logging.LogFactory.getLog(LogFactory.java:208)
        at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.<clinit>(Bootstrap.java:50)
Caused by: java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException
        at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance0(Native Method)
        at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.java:62)
        at sun.reflect.DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.java:45)
        at java.lang.reflect.Constructor.newInstance(Constructor.java:423)
        at org.apache.juli.logging.LogFactory.getInstance(LogFactory.java:134)
        ... 3 more
Caused by: org.apache.logging.log4j.core.config.ConfigurationException: No type attribute provided for component strategy
        at org.apache.logging.log4j.core.config.properties.PropertiesConfigurationBuilder.createComponent(PropertiesConfigurationBuilder.java:330)
        at org.apache.logging.log4j.core.config.properties.PropertiesConfigurationBuilder.processRemainingProperties(PropertiesConfigurationBuilder.java:344)
        at org.apache.logging.log4j.core.config.properties.PropertiesConfigurationBuilder.createAppender(PropertiesConfigurationBuilder.java:225)
        at org.apache.logging.log4j.core.config.properties.PropertiesConfigurationBuilder.build(PropertiesConfigurationBuilder.java:158)
        at org.apache.logging.log4j.core.config.properties.PropertiesConfigurationFactory.getConfiguration(PropertiesConfigurationFactory.java:56)
        at org.apache.logging.log4j.core.config.properties.PropertiesConfigurationFactory.getConfiguration(PropertiesConfigurationFactory.java:35)
        at org.apache.logging.log4j.core.config.ConfigurationFactory.getConfiguration(ConfigurationFactory.java:302)
        at org.apache.logging.log4j.core.config.ConfigurationFactory$Factory.getConfiguration(ConfigurationFactory.java:465)
        at org.apache.logging.log4j.core.impl.Log4jContextFactory.getContext(Log4jContextFactory.java:240)
        at org.apache.logging.log4j.core.impl.Log4jContextFactory.getContext(Log4jContextFactory.java:47)
        at org.apache.logging.log4j.LogManager.getContext(LogManager.java:356)
        at org.apache.logging.log4j.appserver.tomcat.TomcatLogger$PrivateManager.getContext(TomcatLogger.java:182)
        at org.apache.logging.log4j.appserver.tomcat.TomcatLogger$PrivateManager.getLogger(TomcatLogger.java:186)
        at org.apache.logging.log4j.appserver.tomcat.TomcatLogger.<init>(TomcatLogger.java:67)

 

 

• /etc/vmware-eam/log4j2-tomcaat.properties has a invalid line with a missing line break :

rootLogger.level = info
rootLogger.appenderRef.catalina.ref = catalinaAppenderappender.catalina.strategy.type = DefaultRolloverStrategy
appender.catalina.strategy.max = 20
appender.localhost.strategy.type = DefaultRolloverStrategy
appender.localhost.strategy.max = 20

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 7.0.3
VMware vCenter Server 7.0.1
VMware vCenter Server 7.0.2

Cause

After restoring from file-based backup, /etc/vmware-eam/log4j2-tomcat.properties does not have a line break at the end of file (fixed in VC 7.0U2c).

root@vc [ ~ ]# cat -A /etc/vmware-eam/log4j2-tomcat.properties | tail -n 1
rootLogger.appenderRef.catalina.ref = catalinaAppenderroot@vc [ ~ ]#

Patching to 7.0U3o appends following 4 lines at the end of log4j2-tomcat.properties.

appender.catalina.strategy.type = DefaultRolloverStrategy
appender.catalina.strategy.max = 20
appender.localhost.strategy.type = DefaultRolloverStrategy
appender.localhost.strategy.max = 20

As a result, an invalid line inserted into log4j2-tomcat.properties during patching.

rootLogger.appenderRef.catalina.ref = catalinaAppenderappender.catalina.strategy.type = DefaultRolloverStrategy

Resolution

This issue was removed in 7.0U2c and later.

Workaround:
1. Revert to the snapshot / backup taken before patching.
2. Run following command to add a line break at the end.
echo >> /etc/vmware-eam/log4j2-tomcat.properties
3. Retry update.