An error occurred while starting service 'vpxd-svcs' after running service-control --start --all

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:
After running the service-control --start --all command, you experience these symptoms:

• The invsvc service in 6.0 and the vpxd-svcs service  in 6.5 & 6.7 fails to start.
• You see the error similar to:
  
  Perform start operation. vmon_profile=None, svc_names=['vpxd-svcs'], include_cor
  eossvcs=False, include_leafossvcs=False
  2017-02-01T01:10:03.088Z Service vpxd-svcs state STARTING
  Error executing start on service vpxd-svcs. Details {"resolution": null,"detail": [{"args": ["vpxd-svcs"], "id": "install.ciscommon.service.failstart", "localized": "An error occurred while starting service 'vpxd-svcs'", "translatable": "An error occurred while starting service '%(0)s'"}],
  "componentKey": null, "problemId": null} Service-control failed. Error {"resolution": null, "detail": [{ "args": [ "vpxd-svcs"], "id": "install.ciscommon.service.failstart", "localized": "An error occurred while starting service 'vpxd-svcs'", "translatable": "An error occurred while starting service '%(0)s'" }], "componentKey": null, "problemId": null}
  
  In vpxd-svcs.log file found at C:\ProgramData\VMware\vCenterServer\logs\vpxd-svcs has the below error:
  Caused by: com.vmware.cis.core.kv.impl.Exception.KVExecutionException: SQL Error:
  at com.vmware.cis.core.kv.impl.KVUtil.createAndLogExecutionException(KVUtil.java:153)
  at com.vmware.cis.core.kv.impl.Provider.VCDBProviderFactory.getConnection(VCDBProviderFactory.java:122)
  at com.vmware.cis.core.kv.impl.Provider.VCDBProviderFactory.<init>(VCDBProviderFactory.java:83)
  at com.vmware.cis.core.kv.impl.VCDBKVManagerImpl.init(VCDBKVManagerImpl.java:72)
  ... ....................
  
  Caused by: org.apache.commons.dbcp.SQLNestedException: Cannot create PoolableConnectionFactory (The TCP/IP connection to the host sql-server-fqdn, port 1433 has failed. Error: "connect timed out. Verify the connection properties. Make sure that an instance of SQL Server is running on the host and accepting TCP/IP connections at the port. Make sure that TCP connections to the port are not blocked by a firewall.".)
  at org.apache.commons.dbcp.BasicDataSource.createPoolableConnectionFactory(BasicDataSource.java:1549)
  at org.apache.commons.dbcp.BasicDataSource.createDataSource(BasicDataSource.java:1388)
  at org.apache.commons.dbcp.BasicDataSource.getConnection(BasicDataSource.java:1044)
  at com.vmware.cis.core.kv.impl.Provider.VCDBProviderFactory.getConnection(VCDBProviderFactory.java:120)
  .... ......
  
  Caused by: com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerException: The TCP/IP connection to the host vcenter-fqdn, port 1433 has failed. Error: "connect timed out. Verify the connection properties. Make sure that an instance of SQL Server is running on the host and accepting TCP/IP connections at the port. Make sure that TCP connections to the port are not blocked by a firewall.".
  at com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerException.makeFromDriverError(SQLServerException.java:190)
  at com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerException.ConvertConnectExceptionToSQLServerException(SQLServerException.java:241)
  at com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SocketFinder.findSocket(IOBuffer.java:2243)
  at com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.TDSChannel.open(IOBuffer.java:491)
  at com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerConnection.connectHelper(SQLServerConnection.java:1309)
  at com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerConnection.login(SQLServerConnection.java:991)
  at com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerConnection.connect(SQLServerConnection.java:827)
  at com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerDriver.connect(SQLServerDriver.java:1012)
  at org.apache.commons.dbcp.DriverConnectionFactory.createConnection(DriverConnectionFactory.java:38)
  at org.apache.commons.dbcp.PoolableConnectionFactory.makeObject(PoolableConnectionFactory.java:582)
  at org.apache.commons.dbcp.BasicDataSource.validateConnectionFactory(BasicDataSource.java:1556)
  at org.apache.commons.dbcp.BasicDataSource.createPoolableConnectionFactory(BasicDataSource.java:1545)
   
• Updating the DSN with correct SQL database does not resolve the issue.

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 6.0.x

Resolution

To resolve this issue:

1. Update the configuration file with correct database server information:
    
   • Review vpxd.cfg (path: C:\ProgramData\VMware\vCenterServer\cfg\vmware-vpx). ODBC should have a valid DSN name.
     
     <odbc>
     <dbtype>external</dbtype>
     <dsn>Vcenter</dsn>
     </odbc>
      
   • Update the vcdb.properties (path: C:\ProgramData\VMware\vCenterServer\cfg\vmware-vpx) with the correct DB information.
      
2. Review connectivity to SQL server
    
   • SQL authentication
     
     driver = com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerDriver
     dbtype = mssql
     url = jdbc:sqlserver://;serverName=SQLPRD;DatabaseName=vc-fqdn;instanceName=SQL14
     username = SA
     password = P@ssw0rd
     password.encrypted = false
      
   • Windows authentication
     
     driver = com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerDriver
     dbtype = mssql
     url = jdbc:sqlserver://;serverName=sql-fqdn ;DatabaseName=vCenter;instanceName=VCENTERDB;integratedSecurity=True
      
3. If the issue still persists, add Port 1433 to the Windows Firewall.