VMware vCenter Server status alarms continuously change from green to yellow

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• VMware vCenter Server status alarms continuously change from green to yellow.
• Unable to determine the root cause of the alarm.

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 5.0.x
VMware vCenter Server 4.1.x
VMware vCenter Server 5.1.x
VMware vCenter Server 4.0.x

Cause

Resolution

The vCenter Server Health service in vCenter Management Web Services (VWS) monitors:

• Health status of the vCenter server database
• LDAP
• QueryService
• Feed service

Determine if a VWS component is responsible for triggering an alert under the User column in the Tasks and Events tab and find the Health service.

 

To resolve this issue, enable debug logging in the log4j.properties file.

 

To enable debug logging in the log4j.properties file:

1. Enable debug logging in VirtualCenter. For more information, see KB: Increasing VMware vCenter Server and VMware ESXi logging levels.
2. Open the C:\Program Files\VMware\Infrastructure\tomcat\webapps\vws\WEB-INF\classes\log4j.properties file.
3. Edit log4j.properties file and change these options:
   
   log4j.logger.com.vmware.vim=DEBUG
   log4j.appender.LOGFILE.Threshold=DEBUG
   log4j.appender.LOGFILE.MaxBackupIndex=10
   
4. Restart the VirtualCenter Management Webservices service. For more information, see Stopping, starting, or restarting vCenter services (1003895).
5. Examine the vws.log file to determine the service that causes the alarms.
   
   Note: By default vws.log file is located at:
   
   Windows 2003 - C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\VMware\VMware VirtualCenter\Logs\
   Windows 2008 and later - C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware VirtualCenter\Logs\

Additional Information

Increasing VMware vCenter Server and VMware ESXi logging levels
How to stop, start, or restart vCenter Server services