System Configuration tab not loading in HTML Client post Converge operation failure due to mismatch in vCenter Server Machine ID

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• System Configuration tab fails to load in HTML (vsphere-ui) client post converge failure
• Clicking on Administration -> System Configuration will be stuck in loading screen
• Accessing the URL https://<FQDNofvCenterServer>/ui/data/properties/urn:vri:vsphere:vSphereClientInstance:root?properties=vsphere:loggedInVCenter does not display the FQDN of vCenter Server, it will be displayed as NULL

Example:

Access below URL for vCenter Server testvcenter.vmware.com:
https://testvcenter.vmware.com/ui/data/properties/urn:vri:vsphere:vSphereClientInstance:root?properties=vsphere:loggedInVCenter 

It will show the result as :
({"vsphere:loggedInVCenter":"null","id":"urn:vri:vsphere:vSphereClientInstance:root"})

In an ideal situation, FQDN will be displayed in the result : 
{"vsphere:loggedInVCenter":"testvcenter.vmware.com","id":"urn:vri:vsphere:vSphereClientInstance:root"}

 

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 8.x

VMware vCenter Server 7.x

VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.7.x

Cause

This issue is caused due to mismatch in Machine ID of vCenter Server.

Resolution

Note: Take a powered off Snapshot of vCenter Server before proceeding with below steps.  If vCenter is ELM powered off snapshot of all nodes in vSphere Domain is required.  

1. Connect to the vCenter Server using JXplorer utility (Please refer Steps 1 to 3 in How to export vmdir information from vSphere 5.5, 6.x, and 7.x  for more information on connecting to vCenter Server) and verify the Machine ID of the vCenter Server (select vCenter Server Machine Account and check the value of vmwMachineGUID)
2. SSH to vCenter Server and verify the value of Machine ID in file /etc/vmware/install-defaults/sca.hostid
3. Execute /usr/lib/vmware-vmafd/bin/dir-cli service list command to list the Solution Users of vCenter Server and match the Machine ID received from above steps
4. In an ideal environment, machine id received from Step 1 & Step 2 will be same and issue mentioned in this KB will be observed of both does not match
5. If the Machine ID of the Solution Users from Step 3 matches with the Machine ID received from Step 2, update the Machine ID using value from Step 2 with below command :
   1. /usr/lib/vmware-vmafd/bin/vmafd-cli set-machine-id --server-name <fqdn> --id <Machine ID from Step 2>
   2. Example - /usr/lib/vmware-vmafd/bin/vmafd-cli set-machine-id --server-name testvcenter.vmware.com --id ############-####-####-############
6. If the Machine ID of the Solution Users from Step 3 matches with the Machine ID received from Step 1, update the file /etc/vmware/install-defaults/sca.hostid with Machine ID from Step 1
7. Restart the vCenter Server and verify the System Configuration Tab

Additional Information

You can verify machine ID with the following command:

/usr/lib/vmware-vmafd/bin/vmafd-cli get-machine-id --server-name localhost