Failed to start 'hms-vpostgres' service. Unable to reconfigure the VRMS appliance 'Failed to register VRMS'.

Products

• VMware Live Recovery

Issue/Introduction

Failed to start 'hms-vpostgres' service. 

Unable to reconfigure the appliance fails with error message as ' Failed to register VRMS' simultaneously we see that hms-vpostgres service is crashing.

/var/log/vmware/dr/drconfig.log

drconfig.log

2025-05-28T12:25:37.499+02:00 error drconfig[02535] [SRM@6876 sub=ConfigureVrmsOp opID=774fc3e9-7cdc-47e5-b89b-d8639e819412-configure:9fb7] command:
--> /usr/bin/python /opt/vmware/share/htdocs/service/hms/cgi/hms-dr.py --cmd saveembeddedconf --ls=https://VCSA.:443/lookupservice/sdk --lspemfile=/opt/vmware/hms/conf/lsCert [email protected] --vcip=. --vcport=80 --vcthumbprint= --servername=VCSA. --hmshost=. --hmsport=8043 --self-moid=unused --adminmail=admin@VCSA. --secmail=admin@VCSA. --strict-certs 1
--> stdout:
--> {"error": "Bad exit code: 1"}
-->
--> stderr:
--> psql.bin: error: connection to server on socket "/tmp/.s.PGSQL.5432" failed: No such file or directory
-->     Is the server running locally and accepting connections on that socket?
--> psql.bin: error: connection to server on socket "/tmp/.s.PGSQL.5432" failed: No such file or directory
-->     Is the server running locally and accepting connections on that socket?
--> psql.bin: error: connection to server on socket "/tmp/.s.PGSQL.5432" failed: No such file or directory
-->     Is the server running locally and accepting connections on that socket?
--> psql.bin: error: connection to server on socket "/tmp/.s.PGSQL.5432" failed: No such file or directory
-->     Is the server running locally and accepting connections on that socket?
--> psql.bin: error: connection to server on socket "/tmp/.s.PGSQL.5432" failed: No such file or directory
-->     Is the server running locally and accepting connections on that socket?
--> psql.bin: error: connection to server on socket "/tmp/.s.PGSQL.5432" failed: No such file or directory
-->     Is the server running locally and accepting connections on that socket?
--> psql.bin: error: connection to server on socket "/tmp/.s.PGSQL.5432" failed: No such file or directory
-->     Is the server running locally and accepting connections on that socket?

--> Failed to start 'hms-vpostgres' service after 60 attempts! Aborting...
-->
--> Traceback (most recent call last):
-->   File "/opt/vmware/share/htdocs/service/hms/cgi/hms-dr.py", line 55, in main
-->     cmd.validate()
-->   File "/opt/vmware/share/htdocs/service/hms-dr/cgi/commands.py", line 627, in validate
-->     embdb.check_schema()
-->   File "/opt/vmware/share/htdocs/service/hms-dr/cgi/embdb.py", line 72, in check_schema
-->     commands.execute([__TOOL__, '--check', '-y'])
-->   File "/opt/vmware/share/htdocs/service/hms-dr/cgi/commands.py", line 328, in execute
-->     raise Exception('Bad exit code: %d' % proc.returncode)
--> Exception: Bad exit code: 1
-->
-->
2025-05-28T12:25:37.499+02:00 info drconfig[02535] [SRM@6876 sub=ConfigureVrmsOp opID=774fc3e9-7cdc-47e5-b89b-d8639e819412-configure:9fb7] Exiting ConfigureVrms
2025-05-28T12:25:37.500+02:00 verbose drconfig[02535] [SRM@6876 sub=vmomi.soapStub[59] opID=774fc3e9-7cdc-47e5-b89b-d8639e819412-configure:9fb7] Resetting stub adapter; <[N7Vmacore4Http3Ext15DrUserAgentImplE:0x00007fd9f409c0f8], /lookupservice/sdk>, (null)
2025-05-28T12:25:37.500+02:00 error drconfig[02535] [SRM@6876 sub=ConfigureVrmsOp opID=774fc3e9-7cdc-47e5-b89b-d8639e819412-configure:9fb7] Operation failed
--> (vmodl.fault.SystemError) {
-->    faultCause = (vmodl.MethodFault) null,
-->    faultMessage = <unset>,
-->    reason = "Failed to register VRMS."
-->    msg = ""
--> }

 

System Logs show below error messages- 

Generate the system logs journalctl -xe > /tmp/jour.txt

less /tmp/jour.txt  

Jun 06 10:11:20  systemd[1]: hms-vpostgres.service: Scheduled restart job, restart counter is at 9.
Jun 06 10:11:20  systemd[1]: Stopped VMware Postgres database server.
Jun 06 10:11:20  systemd[1]: Starting VMware Postgres database server...
Jun 06 10:11:20  pg_ctl[873267]: pg_ctl: invalid data in PID file "/var/lib/vrmsdb/postmaster.pid"
Jun 06 10:11:20  systemd[1]: hms-vpostgres.service: Control process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
Jun 06 10:11:20  systemd[1]: hms-vpostgres.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
Jun 06 10:11:20  systemd[1]: Failed to start VMware Postgres database server.
Jun 06 10:11:30  systemd[1]: hms-vpostgres.service: Scheduled restart job, restart counter is at 10.
Jun 06 10:11:30  systemd[1]: Stopped VMware Postgres database server.
Jun 06 10:11:30  systemd[1]: hms-vpostgres.service: Start request repeated too quickly.
Jun 06 10:11:30  systemd[1]: hms-vpostgres.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
Jun 06 10:11:30  systemd[1]: Failed to start VMware Postgres database server.

 

 

 

Environment

VMware vSphere Replication 8.x

VMware vSphere Replication 9.x

Cause

This issue usually occurs because of the invalid data in PID file "/var/lib/vrmsdb/postmaster.pid"

A valid postmaster.pid file will have contents similar to below - 

root [ /var/lib/vrmsdb ]# cat postmaster.pid
801
/var/lib/vrmsdb
1748522864
5432
/tmp
127.0.0.1
        2         0
ready

 

Resolution

• Take the snapshot of the vSphere Replication Appliance.
• Connect to the vSphere Replication Appliance via the SSH session.
• Backup the postmaster.pid file 

         cp postmaster.pid postmaster.pid.bak

• Remove the postmaster PID file

          rm -rf  /var/lib/vrmsdb/postmaster.pid

• Post which first attempt to stop the hms-vpostgres service 

         systemctl stop hms-vpostgres

•  Followed by starting the service.

          systemctl start hms-vpostgres

Once the hms-vpostgres service has been started. Kindly reconfigure the appliance using VAMI Page.

This time the reconfigure should complete without any issues.