Appliance Management Service is not starting on the vCenter Server.

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

• vCenter server will be accessible on UI, but VAMI page will not be accessible.
• The service 'applmgmt' failed to start.
• The 'applmgmt' log file /var/log/vmware/applmgmt/applmgmt.log may contain below messages:
  
  ######## [10492]ERROR:vmware.vherd.transport.vapi:Does /etc/applmgmt/appliance/vapi.properties point to correct metadata files?
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/applmgmt/transport/py/vmware/vherd/transport/vapi.py", line 207, in setup_vapi
    from vmware.vapi.wsgi import application
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 983, in _find_and_load
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 967, in _find_and_load_unlocked
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 668, in _load_unlocked
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 638, in _load_backward_compatible
  File "/usr/lib/applmgmt/vapi/lib/vapi_runtime-2.100.0-py2.py3-none-any.whl/vmware/vapi/wsgi.py", line 31, in <module>
wsgi_server = setup_wsgi()
  File "/usr/lib/applmgmt/vapi/lib/vapi_runtime-2.100.0-py2.py3-none-any.whl/vmware/vapi/wsgi.py", line 26, in setup_wsgi
    check_file_exists(os.path.abspath(spec))
  File "/usr/lib/applmgmt/vapi/lib/vapi_runtime-2.100.0-py2.py3-none-any.whl/vmware/vapi/server/vapid.py", line 39, in check_file_exists
    raise os.error(2, "No such file: '%s'" % filename)
FileNotFoundError: [Errno 2] No such file: '/etc/applmgmt/appliance/vapi.properties'
########## [10492]INFO:vmware.vherd.transport.authentication_manager:Initialized local authentication module
########## [10492]DEBUG:vmware.vherd.transport.authentication_manager:Authentication Modules = [<bound method SSOAuthentication.authenticateRequest of <vmware.appliance.extensions.authentication.authentication_sso.SSOAuthentication object at 0x7fda705a94d0>>, <bound method LocalAuthentication.authenticateRequest of <vmware.vherd.transport.authentication_local.LocalAuthentication object at 0x7fda705ceed0>>]
########## [10492]ERROR:vmware.vherd.transport.server:Cannot listen: Couldn't listen on ::1:8201: [Errno 99] Cannot assign requested address.
########## [10492]DEBUG:vmware.vherd.transport.authentication_manager:HTTP METHOD b'GET'
  
  
• Few of the Appliance Management config files might be missing under '/etc/applmgmt/appliance/' directory (You can co-relate the same with other working VC in the environment of same version)

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 7.x

Cause

The issue occurred as a result of Appliance Management metadata corruption.

Resolution

• Restore the vCenter Server to the working state if you have a valid backup/snapshot available. (If VC is part of ELM: All VCs need to restore to the previously taken offline snapshot or backup)
  
  
• Reinstall vCenter Server if valid backup/snapshot is not available.

Additional Information

• Applmgmt service is responsible for:
  
  • Patch/Update (LCM / ISO-based upgrades)
  • Backup & Restore (file-based backup)
  • Appliance health monitoring
• Hence, It is not recommended to keep the VC running without applmgmt service.