Configuring HA on VMware ESX hosts fails with the error: Cannot complete the configuration of the HA agent on the host

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• Cannot configure HA on ESX hosts.
• Unable to configure the aam agent.
• Configuring HA on ESX hosts fails.
• In vCenter Server one or more hosts in the HA cluster report the error:
  
  Cannot complete the configuration of the HA agent on the host.

Environment

VMware ESX 4.1.x
VMware vCenter Server 4.1.x
VMware vCenter Server 4.0.x
VMware ESX 4.0.x

Resolution

This issue may occur if the vpxa agent on the ESX host is corrupted due to which you are unable to configure the aam agent.

Note: the below troubleshooting steps are not applicable to vCenter Server 5.0 as aam functionality is no longer used for HA on vCenter Server 5.0. For further HA (Fault Domain Manager) troubleshooting steps, see Troubleshooting VMware High Availability (HA) issues in VMware vCenter Server 5.x and 6.0 (2004429).

To resolve this issue, remove the vpxa and aam agents from the ESX host and then reinstall them.

To remove the vpxa and aam agents:

Note: For information on reinstalling agents on an ESXi host, see ESXi 4.0 host configures HA but displays a health check error after upgrading to vCenter Server 4.1 (1027628).

1. Connect to the ESX host using SSH.
2. Run this command to verify if the vpxa agent is installed:
   
   # rpm -qa | grep vpxa
   
   Note the vpxa package name returned by this command (For example, VMware-vpxa-#.#.#-#####).
   
   
3. Run this command to remove the vpxa agent:
   
   # rpm -e vpxa_package_name
   
   Where vpxa_package_name is the vpxa package name noted in Step 2.
   
   For example:
   
   # rpm -e VMware-vpxa-#.#.#-#####
   
   
4. Run this command to verify if the aam agent is installed:
   
   # rpm -qa | grep aam
   
   Note the aam package names returned by this command. For example, VMware-aam-haa-#.#.#-# and VMware-aam-vcint-#.#.#-#.
   
   
5. Run this command to remove the aam package files:
   
   rpm -e aam_package_name
   
   Where aam_package_name is the aam package name noted in Step 4.
   
   For example:
   
   rpm -e VMware-aam-haa-#.#.#-#
   rpm -e VMware-aam-vcint-#.#.#-#
   

To reinstall vpxa and aam agents:

1. Move the vpxa and aam agent installation files from vCenter Server to the ESX host using a secured file transfer utility, such as WinSCP.
   
   Note: To download WinSCP, see WinSCP.
   
   To move files using WinSCP:
   
2. 1. Open WinSCP and browse to C:\Program Files\VMware\Infrastructure\VirtualCenter Server\upgrade.
   2. Upload these files to the /tmp directory of the ESX host (chose the highest available Build number):
      
   3. • vpx-upgrade-esx-7-linux-[BuildNumber]
      • aam-upgrade-esx-xxxxxxxx-[BuildNumber]prod-kcc-vip.vmware.com:8080/contactcenter/authoring/search.do?cmd=displayKC
        
        
3. Connect to the ESX host using SSH.
4. Browse to the /tmp directory.
5. Run these commands to install the agents:
   
   # sh vpx-upgrade-esx-7-linux-[BuildNumber]
   # sh aam-upgrade-esx-xxxxxxxx-[BuildNumber]
   
   
6. Run these commands to verify if the agents are installed:
   
   # rpm -qa | grep vpxa
   # rpm -qa | grep aam
   
   
7. Run these commands to restart services on the host:
   
   # service mgmt-vmware restart
   # service vmware-vpxa restart
   
   
8. Add the host back to vCenter Server.

Note: If the issue persists, disable and re-enable VMware High Availability in the cluster.

For related information, see:

• Troubleshooting VMware High Availability (HA) in VMware vSphere 4.x (1001596)
  
• Troubleshooting a VMware High Availability cannot read /var/log/vmware/aam/aam_config_util.def error (1007234)

Additional Information

Troubleshooting VMware High Availability (HA) in VMware vSphere 4.x
Verifying and reinstalling the correct version of the VMware vCenter Server agents
Configuring VMware High Availability fails with the error: Cannot complete the configuration of the HA agent on the host
ESXi 4.0 host configures HA but displays a health check error after upgrading to vCenter Server 4.1
vSphere Fault Tolerance and HA error messages
Troubleshooting VMware High Availability (HA) issues in VMware vCenter Server 5.x and 6.0