“Failed to create replication placeholder”, Changing the PNID fails on vCenter Server Appliance

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• Changing PNID of vCenter Server Appliance fails with error "Failed to create replication placeholder"
• In the /var/log/vmware/applmgmt/pnid_change.log file, you see entries similar to:

2019-09-03 21:14:52,392 - pnid_utils-update_ldap_entries():551 - INFO - Successfully updated vcenter instance name.
2019-09-03 21:14:52,410 - pnid_utils-update_ldap_entries():556 - INFO - Successfully updated DSE Root.
2019-09-03 21:14:52,412 - pnid_utils-update_task_status():1186 - INFO - Task : Failed to create replication placeholder.

• In the /var/log/vmware/vmdird/vmdird-syslog.log file, you see entries similar to:

2019-09-03T21:14:52.412987+00:00 err vmdird  t@140361242490624: VmDirSendLdapResult: Request (Add), Error (32), Message (parent (cn=vcsa1.gsslabtest.com,cn=Servers,cn=Duedingen,cn=Sites,cn=Configuration,DC=vsphere,DC=local) not found, ((MDB_NOTFOUND: No matching key/data pair found)(cn=vcsa1.gsslabtest.com,cn=servers,cn=duedingen,cn=sites,cn=configuration,dc=vsphere,dc=local))), (0) socket (127.0.0.1)

 

Note: The preceding log excerpts are only examples. Date, time, and environmental variables may vary depending on your environment.

Cause

This issue is due to the case mismatch of the Host Name and the PNID (Primary Network Identifier) of the vCenter Server Appliance.

Resolution

This issue is resolved in vCenter Server 6.7 U3a, available at VMware Downloads.

Workaround:
As a workaround, you can replace the attached file after taking the backup of the original file using the below commands

• Login to VCSA using SSH
• Take backup of the script pnid_utils.py

cp /usr/lib/applmgmt/networking/py/vmware/appliance/networking/pnid/pnid_utils.py /usr/lib/applmgmt/networking/py/vmware/appliance/networking/pnid/pnid_utils.py_backup

• Download the attached script pnid_utils.py and replace the file /usr/lib/applmgmt/networking/py/vmware/appliance/networking/pnid/pnid_utils.py on VCSA using WinSCP

Note: If you are encountering issues when connecting WinSCP to VCSA, please use the below KB article Error when uploading files to vCenter Server Appliance using WinSCP (2107727.)

• Restart Appliance Management service using the below command

service-control --stop applmgmt && service-control --start applmgmt

• Perform the PNID change again using the VAMI, refer to Changing your vCenter Server’s FQDN for more information.