Auto-deploy web page not loading and/or erroring with "managing rules is temporarily unavailable. an error occurred while connecting to the Auto Deploy service."

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

• When attempting to manage or configure VMware Auto Deploy, within the vCenter UI, the Deploy Rules tab displays the following error message:
  
  Managing rules is temporarily unavailable. An error occurred while connecting to the Auto Deploy service
  
  
  
  
• The following error is observed in the /var/log/vmware/rbd/rbd-syslog.log of the vCenter Server.
  
  YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS err rbd [1381229]director:ERROR:Failed to check the VCHA value
  Traceback (most recent call last):
    File "bora/install/vmvisor/autodeploy/site-packages/vmware/rbd/waiter/cgi/director.py", line 272, in _isVCHAConfigured
    File "bora/install/vmvisor/autodeploy/site-packages/vmware/rbd/waiter/vc_servers.py", line 148, in serviceInstance
    File "bora/install/vmvisor/autodeploy/site-packages/vmware/rbd/waiter/vc_servers.py", line 77, in connect
  Exception: No default VC configured

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 8.x

Cause

This issue occurs because the vCenter Server instance is no longer correctly registered with the Auto Deploy service. This loss of registration prevents the Auto Deploy service (managed by the rbd component) from establishing a connection to vCenter, which is necessary for managing image profiles and deployment rules.

Resolution

To resolve this issue, the vCenter Server must be re-registered with the Auto Deploy service using the below steps:

1. Connect to the vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA) via SSH and log in as root.

2. Execute the following command to register your vCenter Server with the Auto Deploy service:
   
   /usr/bin/waiter-cfg addvc <ip/hostname> <username> <password>
   
   Note:If your Auto Deploy service was listening on port 8443, the command would be:
   
   /usr/bin/waiter-cfg addvc -p 8443 vcenter.domain.local [email protected] Password
   
   
3. After the command successfully completes, the vCenter Server is re-registered.
   
   
4. Navigate back to the vCenter UI and refresh the Auto Deploy interface. The Deploy Rules tab is now expected to load and display correctly, free of any previous errors.