VMware Smart Assurance NCM: RA not accessible post upgrade to 9.5.x/9.6

Products

• VMware

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:
Unable to launch RA (http 404 error on page) post upgrade to version 9.6 from 9.3.
$TOMCAT_HOME/logs/Catalina.log will show that tomcat is started and running fine but RA will not launch.
No error is noticed in $TOMCAT_HOME/logs/Voyence.log.

Environment

VMware Smart Assurance - NCM

Cause

Multiple RAs are installed in old NCM install. New flag has been introduced from NCM version 9.5 onwards where only single RA can be registered with one AS other RAs which are installed after this will be ignored by AS during registration process.

Snippet from RA logs $TOMCAT_HOME/logs:

Localhost log:

13-Feb-2020 10:39:47.728 INFO [localhost-startStop-1] org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationContext.log No Spring WebApplicationInitializer types detected on classpath

13-Feb-2020 10:39:47.740 SEVERE [localhost-startStop-1] org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.listenerStart Error configuring application listener of class [com.voyence.web.reporting.jreport.JRServerContextListener]

java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: com.voyence.web.reporting.jreport.JRServerContextListener

        at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoaderBase.loadClass(WebappClassLoaderBase.java:1291)

        at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoaderBase.loadClass(WebappClassLoaderBase.java:1119)

        at org.apache.catalina.core.DefaultInstanceManager.loadClass(DefaultInstanceManager.java:544)

        at org.apache.catalina.core.DefaultInstanceManager.loadClassMaybePrivileged(DefaultInstanceManager.java:525)

        at org.apache.catalina.core.DefaultInstanceManager.newInstance(DefaultInstanceManager.java:150)

        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.listenerStart(StandardContext.java:4667)

        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.startInternal(StandardContext.java:5207)

        at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150)

 

License log:

WARN : 2020-02-10 06:27:05,590: RALicenseListener: RA Web Page cannot be launched, because another RA Server has already registered. Please contact EMC Support.

WARN : 2020-02-13 10:58:43,326: RALicenseListener: RA Web Page cannot be launched, because another RA Server has already registered. Please contact EMC Support.

WARN : 2020-02-13 11:00:11,981: RALicenseListener: RA Web Page cannot be launched, because another RA Server has already registered. Please contact EMC Support.

WARN : 2020-02-13 11:09:24,151: RALicenseListener: RA Web Page cannot be launched, because another RA Server has already registered. Please contact EMC Support.

WARN : 2020-02-13 11:27:02,721: RALicenseListener: RA Web Page cannot be launched, because another RA Server has already registered. Please contact EMC Support.

Resolution

Follow the below steps to resolve the issue
1. Login to AS and execute "source /etc/voyence.conf"
2. Export infraDB with below command:
Navigate to $VOYENCE_HOME/cgi-bin and run ./cflist.cgi > infraDB.txt
3. Take backup of infraDB.txt file. Open file infraDB.txt, edit the attribute RA_SERVER_IP to correct/one RA IP address.
4. Write changes to infraDB with below command:
./cfwrite.cgi < infraDB.txt
5. Restart vcmaster in AS with command "service vcmaster restart".
6. Restart tomcat and httpd services in RA.
7. Try to launch RA and it should work.

NOTE: If you are unaware how to edit InfraDB, create SR with VMware Technical Support Team with this KB number since editing it wrong might corrupt InfraDB and creates inconsistency between InfraDB and controlDB.

Workaround:
If restart of services is not an option during business hours, follow below:
Follow steps 1-4 in Resolution section and the implement below:
a. On AS, edit powerup.jnlp available at $VOYENCE_HOME/ncmcore/webapps/voyence for line below, update correct/one RA IP address.
<property name="jnlp.legacy_reports_advisor_url" value="https://RA_SERVER_IP/web/"/>
b. Save and close file.
c. Try to launch RA now and it will work.