vCenter UI fails to load post patch failure

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

• vSphere Web Client page fails to load following a failed patch attempt with no error message
  
  
• Additionally, the vCenter Server Appliance may boot into emergency mode after rebooting following the failed patch operation and cannot be recovered even with a forced filesystem repair using fsck.repair option from GRUB
  
  

Cause

The vCenter Server Appliance patching process failed, leaving the appliance filesystem or database in an incomplete state.

 

Resolution

1. Access the ESXi Host Client where the affected vCenter Server Appliance resides.

2. Power off the vCenter Server Appliance.

3. Revert the vCenter Server Appliance to an offline snapshot taken prior to the patching attempt. If the vCenter Server is part of Enhanced Linked Mode (ELM), gracefully shut down all vCenter Servers in the SSO domain, revert all of them to their offline/consistent snapshots taken prior to the change, and only start powering the restored nodes back on after all of them have been restored from the snapshots.

4. If a valid snapshot is unavailable, restore the vCenter Server Appliance(s) from a file-based backup or image-level backup taken prior to the update.

Additional Information

For steps to perform forced filesystem check refer to VMware vCenter Server fails to boot and shows a black screen with a blinking/flashing cursor