vCenter vmware-vdtc service is in stopped state

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

• VDTC service status showing as not running and vmware-vdtc service is in stopped state 

# service-control --status --all
Running:
applmgmt lookupsvc lwsmd observability observability-vapi pschealth vc-ws1a-broker vlcm vmafdd vmcad vmdird vmware-analytics vmware-certificateauthority vmware-certificatemanagement vmware-cis-license vmware-content-library vmware-eam vmware-envoy vmware-envoy-hgw vmware-envoy-sidecar vmware-envoy-system-proxy vmware-hvc vmware-infraprofile vmware-perfcharts vmware-postgres-archiver vmware-rhttpproxy vmware-sca vmware-sps vmware-stsd vmware-topologysvc vmware-trustmanagement vmware-updatemgr vmware-vapi-endpoint vmware-vmon vmware-vpostgres vmware-vpxd vmware-vpxd-svcs vmware-vsan-health vmware-vsm vsphere-ui vstats vtsdb wcp
Stopped:
vmcam vmware-imagebuilder vmware-netdumper vmware-rbd-watchdog vmware-vcha vmware-vdtc

• Unable to start the service: vmware-vdtc
• VDTC service fails to start after reboot of the vCenter appliance.

Environment

• VC 7.x
• VC 8.x
• VC 9.0

Cause

The vmware-vdtc/config.json file was incomplete or malformed, and logging for the service was effectively disabled (set to 0 MB). 
 

/var/log/vmware/vdtc #ls -lrth

-rw-r -- r -- 1 vdtc vdtc 2.9M MM DD HH:MM spans-13189.scap.gz
-rw-r -- r -- 1 vdtc vdtc 2.9M MM DD HH:MM spans-13190.scap.gz
-rw-r -- r -- 1 vdtc vdtc 2.9M MM DD HH:MM spans-13191.scap.gz
-rw-r -- r -- 1 vdtc vdtc 39M  MM DD HH:MM spans-13192.scap
-rw-r -- r -- 1 vdtc vdtc 0 MM DD HH:MM spans-13193.scap
-rw-r -- r -- 1 vdtc vdtc 0 MM DD HH:MM spans-13194.scap
-rw-r -- r -- 1 vdtc vdtc 0 MM DD HH:MM vdtc-800.log
lrwxrwxrwx 1 vdtc vdtc 33 MM DD HH:MM vdtc.log -> /var/log/vmware/vdtc/vdtc-801.log
-rw-r -- r -- 1 vdtc vdtc 0 MM DD HH:MM vdtc-801.log
-rw-r -- r -- 1 vdtc vdtc 0 Jun MM DD HH:MM spans-13195.scap
-rw-r -- r -- 1 vdtc vdtc 0 Jun MM DD HH:MM spans-13192.scap.gz

Resolution

• Copy the file /etc/vmware-vdtc/config.json from a working vCenter of the same build. 
• Recreate the config.json on the non-working vCenter using vi editor in the /etc/vmware-vdtc/config.json

Example content:
vi /etc/vmware-vdtc/config.json

< {
   "bufferPool": {
      "size": 100
   },
   "fileLog": {
      "directory": "/var/log/vmware/vdtc",
      "maxFileNum": 2,
      "maxFileSize": 65535
   },
   "logStats": {
      "intervalInSeconds": 300
   },
   "spanCapture": {
      "directory": "/var/cache/vmware-vdtc/spans",
      "maxFileNum": 4,
      "maxFileSize": 52428800
   },
   "telemetry": {
      "maxFileNum": 4,
      "intervalInSeconds": 7200,
      "maxUniqueRecords": 25000
   }
} >

• Save and exit the file by pressing <ESc> and enter :wq! 
• Start the service <wmware-vdtc> using below command
  service-control --start vmware-vdtc 

Additional Information

Running the Using the VCF Diagnostic Tool for vSphere (VDT) on the vCenter reports the vdtc service is stopped