Unable to deploy service mesh with error: Failed to retrieve OVF environment sections for VM from extension vService Manager

Products

• VMware HCX

Issue/Introduction

Service mesh appliance deployment fails during power-on operations. The appliances consistently hang at 66% completion and display the following error:

Error: "Failed to retrieve OVF environment sections for VM 'server1' from extension vService Manager."

This issue prevents successful deployment of appliances and creation of a service mesh. The power-on task becomes unresponsive, causing HCX deployment timeouts.

Steps to validate this issue

1. Check vCenter Server uptime - Extended uptime (300+ days) may indicate password expiration issues
2. Verify appliance deployment failure - Confirm appliances consistently fail at 66% completion during power-on
3. Review vCenter events - Look for the exact error message in vCenter events or task logs
4. Check VM operations - Verify other VM power-on operations are also affected

Log validation

Check the following log entries to confirm the issue:

vCenter vpxd.log:

error vpxd[######] Unable to get signed certificate for host name 'hostname' ip 'xxx.xx.xx.xx': Error: Operation failed with error = ERROR_ACCESS_DENIED (5)

vCenter vmcad.log:

[vmcad][WARNING] VMCACheckAccessKrb: Access denied as user is not administrator
[vmcad][WARNING] error code: 0x00000005

Environment

VMware HCX 

VMware vCenter Server 8.0 Update 2

Cause

The VSM (vService Manager) service account password has expired. This internal vCenter account is responsible for VM operations, and when expired, it prevents vCenter from successfully powering on virtual machines during HCX appliance deployment.

The expired password specifically affects VM power-on operations initiated by vCenter, causing authentication failures with VSM and resulting in deployment operations hanging at 66% completion.

Resolution

Fixed in vCenter Server 8.0 Update 2b and later versions.

For vCenter Server 8.0 Update 2 and earlier versions, follow these steps to resolve the issue:

Step 1: Restart the VSM service

Connect to the vCenter Server and restart the VSM service using the following command:

service-control --restart vsm

Step 2: Clean up failed deployment

1. Navigate to the HCX management interface.
2. Delete the failed service mesh deployment that contains the hung appliances
3. Verify all associated appliances are removed from the inventory

Step 3: Create new service mesh

1. Create a new service mesh to replace the failed deployment
2. Monitor the appliance deployment progress
3. Verify appliances deploy and power on successfully without hanging

The appliances should now complete deployment without the 66% hang issue.

Verification

After completing the resolution steps:

• Appliances should power on completely without hanging
• No "Failed to retrieve OVF environment sections" errors should appear
• Service mesh deployment should complete successfully
• VM operations should function normally

If the error persists after following these steps, contact Broadcom Support for further assistance.

Additional Information

Related Knowledge Articles:

• VM operations hang due to expired VSM service account password

When opening a support request with Broadcom for this issue, provide:

• HCX log bundles from both source and target sites with HCX database dump
• vCenter Server logs showing the VSM service restart
• Screenshots of the deployment failure at 66% completion
• Service mesh configuration details and deployment timeline
• vCenter Server uptime information

Useful support resources:

• Uploading files to cases on the Broadcom Support Portal
• Creating and managing Broadcom support cases
• Collecting diagnostic information for VMware HCX