vCenter Server services fail to start with error: DB Schema hash mismatch

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• Cannot start the VMware vCenter Server service
• Starting the VMware vCenter Server service fails
• In the event log, you see entries similar to:
  
  Database version id '410' is incompatible with this release of VirtualCenter.
  Database version id '501' is incompatible with this release of VirtualCenter.
  
  
• vCenter Server services fail to start
• You see the error:
  
  
  Windows could not start Virtual center in the Local computer. review system event log. If tis is a non Microsoft-service vendor and refer to service specific vendor error code 2
  
  
• In the vpxd.log file, you see entries similar to:
  
  
  YYYY-MM-DDT<time> [04996 info 'utilvpxdVdb'] [VpxdVdb::SetDBType] Logging in to DSN: vcenter with username vcuser
  YYYY-MM-DDT<time> [04996 info 'Default'] [VdbSchemaLoader::LookupSchemaFromDB] Loaded schema and index information from DB
  YYYY-MM-DDT<time>[04996 info 'utilvpxdDbSchemaHash'] [VpxdDbSchemaHash::GetSchemaFilename]: sqlDir: C:\Program Files\VMware\Infrastructure\VirtualCenter Server\sql\
  YYYY-MM-DDT<time>[04996 info 'utilvpxdDbSchemaHash'] [VpxdDbSchemaHash::CheckSchema]: schema file: C:\Program Files\VMware\Infrastructure\VirtualCenter Server\sql\VCDB_mssql.sql
  YYYY-MM-DDT<time>[04996 error 'utilvpxdDbSchemaHash'] [VpxdDbSchemaHash::CheckSchema] DB schema hash mismatch
  YYYY-MM-DDT<time>[04996 error 'utilvpxdDbSchemaHash'] [VpxdDbSchemaHash::CheckSchema] File: 4ae87f5460fe1cc421f75caf1844f15e
  YYYY-MM-DDT<time>[04996 error 'utilvpxdDbSchemaHash'] [VpxdDbSchemaHash::CheckSchema] DB: 189f5786f3b0b59411dec2d8f9411ed9
  YYYY-MM-DDT<time>[04996 error 'vpxdvpxdMain'] [Vpxd::ServerApp::Init] Init failed: VpxdDbSchemaHash::CheckSchema()
  --> Backtrace:
  --> backtrace[00] rip 000000018018aafa
  --> backtrace[01] rip 0000000180102568
  --> backtrace[02] rip 00000001801038de
  --> backtrace[03] rip 000000018008d24b
  --> backtrace[04] rip 00000000003e5c2c
  --> backtrace[05] rip 0000000000406512
  --> backtrace[06] rip 000000014081ca8f
  --> backtrace[07] rip 000000014081b3dc
  --> backtrace[08] rip 0000000140a3cbdb
  --> backtrace[09] rip 000007fefe71a82d
  --> backtrace[10] rip 00000000775059ed
  --> backtrace[11] rip 00000000779ac541</time></time></time></time></time></time></time></time>
  
  
  YYYY-MM-DDT<time> [04996 error 'Default'] Failed to intialize VMware VirtualCenter. Shutting down...</time>
  --> backtrace[00] rip 000000018018aafa
  
  Note: The preceding log excerpts are only examples. Date, time, and environmental variables may vary depending on your environment.

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 5.0.x
VMware vCenter Server 4.0.x
VMware vCenter Server 4.1.x
VMware vCenter Server 5.1.x
VMware vCenter Server 5.5.x

Cause

This issue occurs in one of the cases:

• The vCenter Server database was restored with an earlier version that is not compatible with the current running version of vCenter Server, resulting in a database schema mismatch.
• During an upgrade of vCenter Server, the database upgrade process failed after modifying the current database schema.

Resolution

To resolve this issue when there is a schema mismatch, restore the correct version of the vCenter Server database associated with the current build of vCenter Server.

To verify if there is a vCenter Server database schema mistmatch:

1. Connect to the vCenter Server database using the SQL management tool.
2. Run this query to list the rows in the VPX_Version table in the vCenter Server database:
   
   Select * from VPX_Version
   
   
3. Note the value in the the VERSION_VALUE field.
4. Open the vpxd.log file and locate the initial header of the file. The header shows the current version of vCenter Server.
   
   For example, the header appears similar to:
   
   Section for VMware VirtualCenter, pid=4472, version=5.1.0, build=1235232, option=Release
   
   
5. Compare the vCenter Server versions noted in Step 3 and Step 4. If the versions do not match, the the vCenter Server database is running an incorrect schema.
   

To upgrade the database schema to the correct version:

1. Uninstall vCenter Server.
2. Restore the vCenter Server database from a backup.
3. Reinstall vCenter Server using the Use existing database option.

Additional Information

Location of vCenter Server log files
vCenter Server 服务无法启动，并出现“DB Schema hash mismatch”错误