"Unable to contact the source vCenter" error at pre-check when upgrading vCenter Server Appliance from 6.5 to 6.7

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• Upgrading vCenter Server Appliance(VCSA) from 6.5 to 6.7 fails with the error:

Unable to contact the source vCenter

• In installer-xxxxxxxx-xxxxxxxxx.log you may see entries similar to:

 

2019-02-28T18:58:14.052Z - info: VM Identifier for Source VC: 1048 
2019-02-28T18:58:14.176Z - debug: initiateFileTransferFromGuest error: ServerFaultCode: Failed to authenticate with the guest operating system using the supplied credentials. 
2019-02-28T18:58:14.176Z - debug: Failed to get fileTransferInfo:ServerFaultCode: Failed to authenticate with the guest operating system using the supplied credentials. 
2019-02-28T18:58:14.176Z - debug: Failed to get url of file in guest vm:ServerFaultCode: Failed to authenticate with the guest operating system using the supplied credentials. 
2019-02-28T18:58:14.176Z - error: Error in getting fileData for nodeType. Error: ServerFaultCode: Failed to authenticate with the guest operating system using the supplied credentials. 
2019-02-28T18:58:14.177Z - error: Failed to read the nodetype, Error: Failed to authenticate with the guest operating system using the supplied credentials. 

 

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

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 6.5.x

Cause

This issue occurs when the vCenter OS password ( root password ) is expired.

Resolution

To resolve this issue, reset the password.

 

Process to Reset the Password:
 

To reset the password follow the steps below:

1. Connect to the source vCenter using SSH.
2. Execute "chage -l root"  command to check if the root password has expired
3. Change the password using the command "passwd"
4. Initiate the upgrade again

Note: If SSH access is not available, see Resetting root password in vCenter Server Appliance