VAMI shows Installation Failed: Failed to set vmdir service to maintenance mode, err: trying to update vCenter

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Trying to update vCenter from 8.0 U3e (8.0.3.00500) to 8.0 U3g (8.0.3.00600) showed the following in VAMI.

vCenter was still accessible through the vSphere Web Client.

 

Installation Failed

Failed to set vmdir service to maintenance mode, err: Failed to set vmdir to maintenance mode

The progress bar was at 25% with an option to Resume vCenter update

 

The update was left in this state for a period of time (days) and after several resume attempts it moved to the issue found below:

Patching VCSA from 8.x is failing with "Installation of one or more containers failed"
https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article/344748

 

Resume attempts were exhausted and the vCenter VM was reverted to the pre-update snapshot.

 

Environment

vCenter Server 8.0.3

Cause

The /var/log/vmware/applmgmtPatchRunner.log entries from when the update started were no longer available

A VDT report showed an issue with the DFL (Domain Functional Level)

            [FAIL]    VMdir DFL Check

                        VMDIR Domain Functional Level is incorrect!

                        Documentation:     https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article?legacyId=92962

Using the VCF Diagnostic Tool for vSphere (VDT)
https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article/344917

Resolution

The vCenter VM was reverted to the pre-update snapshot

 

Prior to the next update attempt, the DFL was changed from 1 to 4 per the KB mentioned in the VDT report (link below) and the update completed successfully.

 

VMdir enters failure state after upgrading vCenter Server to 8.0 U1.
https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article/318221