Temporarily disabling the performance charts service in vCenter Server 6.7 and 6.5
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Temporarily disabling the performance charts service in vCenter Server 6.7 and 6.5

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Article ID: 328943

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Updated On:

Products

VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

This article provides a workaround for security issues related to Apache Struts by disabling the performance charts service in vCenter Server 6.0. Critical vulnerabilities in Apache Struts that affect VMware products are documented in VMware Security Advisories.

The workarounds described in the Solution section of this article apply to the following versions of vCenter Server:

  • VMware vCenter Server Appliance 7.0
  • VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.7
  • VMware vCenter Server 6.7
  • VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.5
  • VMware vCenter Server 6.5

Warning: The workaround for vCenter 6.0 has been documented separately in KB328922. Do NOT apply the workaround below to vCenter 6.0.

Functionality Impact for 6.5 and 6.7 only: Users will not be able to view the Overview Performance Charts in vSphere Web Client. The advanced performance charts and the vCenter Server API for extracting performance statistics are not impacted. At the time of publication, these are the only known functionality impacts associated with disabling this feature.

 

Resolution

To apply this workaround on vCenter Server 7.0, 6.7 and/or 6.5, stop the performance charts service and disable the automatic startup of the service on reboot.

Stop the Performance Charts Service in vSphere 6.5, 6.7, and 7.0

For the vCenter Server Appliance 6.5, 6.7, and 7.0
  1. Connect the vCenter Server Appliance with an SSH session and root credentials.
  2. Stop the performance charts service:
    /usr/lib/vmware-vmon/vmon-cli --stop perfcharts
     
  3. (Optional) Turn off the automatic startup of the service on reboot:
    /usr/lib/vmware-vmon/vmon-cli --update perfcharts --starttype MANUAL
For vCenter Server 6.7 and 6.5 on Windows
  1. Log in as an administrator to the Windows machine.
  2. Open the command-prompt.
  3. Stop the performance charts service:
    %VMWARE_CIS_HOME%/vmon/vmon-cli.exe” --stop perfcharts
     
  4. (Optional) Turn off the automatic startup of the service on reboot:
    %VMWARE_CIS_HOME%/vmon/vmon-cli.exe -update perfcharts --starttype MANUAL

To revert the startup type of the performance charts service to the default behavior in vCenter Server Appliance 6.5, 6.7, and 7.0
  1. Connect the vCenter Server Appliance with an SSH session and root credentials.
  2. (Optional) Turn off the automatic startup of the service on reboot:
    /usr/lib/vmware-vmon/vmon-cli --update perfcharts --starttype AUTOMATIC
     
  3. Start the performance charts service:
    /usr/lib/vmware-vmon/vmon-cli --start perfcharts

To revert the startup type of the performance charts service to the default behavior in vCenter Server windows 6.7 and 6.5
  1. Log in as an administrator to the Windows machine.
  2. Open the command-prompt.
  3. (Optional) Turn off the automatic startup of the service on reboot:
    %VMWARE_CIS_HOME%/vmon/vmon-cli.exe -update perfcharts --starttype AUTOMATIC
     
  4. Start the performance charts service:
    “%VMWARE_CIS_HOME%/vmon/vmon-cli.exe” --start perfcharts
     

Alternative

Steps to apply workaround using vSphere Web client for 6.5 and 6.7
  1. Log in to vSphere Web client as administrator of the system.
  2. Navigate to the administration (Home) > system configuration (under deployment) > Services node.
  3. Navigate to the VMware Performance charts service on the left panel.
  4. Click the stop button. Check the summary page to confirm that the service changes from “Running” to “Stopped”.
  5. From the Actions, edit the startup type and set it to MANUAL.
Steps to revert the workaround using vSphere Web client
  1. Log in to vSphere Web client as administrator of the system.
  2. Navigate to the administration (Home) > system configuration (under deployment) > Services node.
  3. Navigate to the VMware Performance charts service on the left panel.
  4. From the Actions, edit the startup type and set it to AUTOMATIC.
  5. Click the start button. Check the summary page to confirm that the service changes from “Stopped” to “Running”.