An error with Usage Meter gateway results in corrupted local.conf file

Products

• VMware Aria Suite

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:
After restarting Usage Meter and checking the status of its services using the following command, the output shows that all services are in offline status.

sh ./scripts/status.sh

Checking the core main.log shows an error with the Usage Meter gateway:

2020-11-16 10:51:06[error][3204][gateway_Runner]Unable to start UM Gateway.
com.vmware.um.common.err.UmException: Runner execute failed to construct objects. Cause: Unable to build binary keys
at com.vmware.um.umcomponent.Runner.start(Runner.java:83)
at com.vmware.um.gw.ApiEndPoint.config(ApiEndPoint.java:255)

[2020-11-16 10:13:42] | ERROR | core_Runner | com.vmware.um.umcomponent.Runner | Exiting due components runner error: Runner execute failed to construct objects. Cause: Unable to build binary keys=>Unable to build binary keys=>Config error. Expected mandatory parameter 'passEncSecret' not specified in configs.

On the contrary, the local.conf file is empty without any content.

Environment

VMware vCloud Usage Meter 4.x

Cause

The reason for the Usage Meter gateway error is that the local.conf file got corrupted or edited.

It has been observed that the passEncSecret config key is missing from local.conf.

Resolution

Procedure

1. Check both cloudusagemetering folders ( in case of Usage Meter has been upgraded). An example is shown below:

cat /opt/vmware/cloudusagemetering16222545/conf/local.conf

cat /opt/vmware/cloudusagemetering17123450/conf/local.conf

2. If one of those folders is empty, copy the content from the other and restart your Usage Meter.