vCenter Server Secure Token Service fails to start

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• After rebooting the vCenter Server, the VMware Secure Token (STS) service fails to start.
• The vCenter Server Management Webservices service fails to start.

Note: For additional symptoms and log entries, see the Additional Information section.

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 5.5.x

Cause

This issue occurs when the C:\Program Files\Common Files\VMware\VMware vCenter Server - tc Server\lib\tcServer.jar is missing or corrupt.

Resolution

To resolve this issue uninstall and reinstall the VMware Secure Token Service (STS):

1. Stop the VMware Secure Token Service is stopped.
2. Open Programs & Features in vCenter Server.
3. Uninstall the component VMware vCenter Server – tcServer.
4. Open the vCenter 5.5 installation media and navigate to Single Sign-On\prerequisites\.
5. Run VMware-tcserver.exe file.
6. Restart the VMware STS service and the vCenter Server Management Webservices service.

Additional Information

You experience these additional symptoms:

• In the C:\ProgramData\VMware\CIS\runtime\VMwareSTS\logs\wrapper.log file, you see entries similar to:
  
  STATUS | wrapper | YYYY/MM/DD <time> | --> Wrapper Started as Service
  </time>STATUS | wrapper | YYYY/MM/DD <time> | Launching a JVM...
  </time>INFO | jvm 1 | YYYY/MM/DD <time> | Wrapper (Version 3.2.3) http://wrapper.tanukisoftware.org
  </time>INFO | jvm 1 | YYYY/MM/DD <time> | Copyright 1999-2006 Tanuki Software, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
  </time>INFO | jvm 1 | YYYY/MM/DD <time> |
  </time>INFO | jvm 1 | YYYY/MM/DD <time> | Month Day, Year <time> org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina load
  </time></time>INFO | jvm 1 | YYYY/MM/DD <time> | WARNING: Catalina.start using conf/server.xml: Error at (7, 91) : com.springsource.tcserver.licensing.LicensingLifecycleListener
  </time>INFO | jvm 1 | YYYY/MM/DD <time> | Month Day, Year <time> org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina load
  </time></time>INFO | jvm 1 | YYYY/MM/DD <time> | WARNING: Catalina.start using conf/server.xml: Error at (7, 91) : com.springsource.tcserver.licensing.LicensingLifecycleListener
  </time>INFO | jvm 1 | YYYY/MM/DD <time> | Month Day, Year <time> org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina start
  </time></time>INFO | jvm 1 | YYYY/MM/DD <time> | SEVERE: Cannot start server. Server instance is not configured.
  </time>STATUS | wrapper | YYYY/MM/DD <time> | <-- Wrapper Stopped</time>

• In the C:\ProgramData\VMware\CIS\runtime\VMwareSTS\logs\catalina.<date>.log file, you see entries similar to:
  
  DD-Mon-YYY <time> SEVERE [WrapperSimpleAppMain] org.apache.tomcat.util.digester.Digester.<clinit> Unable to load property source[com.springsource.tcserver.security.PropertyDecoder].</time>java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: com.springsource.tcserver.security.PropertyDecoder
  at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
  at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(Unknown Source)
  at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(Unknown Source)
  at java.lang.Class.forName0(Native Method)
  at java.lang.Class.forName(Unknown Source)
  at org.apache.tomcat.util.digester.Digester.<clinit>(Digester.java:100)
  at org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina.createStartDigester(Catalina.java:303)
  at org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina.load(Catalina.java:552)
  at org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina.load(Catalina.java:664)
  at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
  at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
  at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
  at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Unknown Source)
  at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.load(Bootstrap.java:281)
  at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.main(Bootstrap.java:455)
  at net.covalent.tomcat.wrapper.ThreadDumpWrapper.main(ThreadDumpWrapper.java:74)
  at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
  at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
  at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
  at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Unknown Source)
  at org.tanukisoftware.wrapper.WrapperSimpleApp.run(WrapperSimpleApp.java:240)
  at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)

• In the C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware VirtualCenter\vws.log file, you see entries similar to:
  
  jvm 1 | <Mon> DD, YYYY <time> org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina load
  </time>jvm 1 | WARNING: Catalina.start using conf/server.xml: Error at (6, 91) : com.springsource.tcserver.licensing.LicensingLifecycleListener
  jvm 1 | <Mon> DD, YYYY <time> org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina start
  </time>jvm 1 | SEVERE: Cannot start server. Server instance is not configured.
  wrapper | <-- Wrapper Stopped

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