Error: ‘Authentication via Solution User Certificate Is Not Supported Outside of VCSA’ when starting vStats service on vCenter Server.

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

• Starting vstats service using 'service-control --start vstats' fails with following error:

Operation not cancellable. Please wait for it to finish...
Performing start operation on service vstats...
Error executing start on service vstats. Details {
    "detail": [
        {
            "id": "install.ciscommon.service.failstart",
            "translatable": "An error occurred while starting service '%(0)s'",
            "args": [
                "vstats"
            ],
            "localized": "An error occurred while starting service 'vstats'"
        }
    ],
    "componentKey": null,
    "problemId": null,
    "resolution": null
}
Service-control failed. Error: {
    "detail": [
        {
            "id": "install.ciscommon.service.failstart",
            "translatable": "An error occurred while starting service '%(0)s'",
            "args": [
                "vstats"
            ],
            "localized": "An error occurred while starting service 'vstats'"
        }
    ],
    "componentKey": null,
    "problemId": null,
    "resolution": null
}

• Logs on vCenter Server (/var/log/vmware/vmon/vmon.log) will show entries similar to below snippets:
  
  YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss In(05) host-2042 Received start request for vstats
YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss In(05) host-2042 <vstats-prestart> Constructed command: /usr/bin/python /usr/lib/vmware-vstats/scripts/vstats_pre_start.py
YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss In(05) host-2042 <vstats> Service pre-start command completed successfully.
YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss In(05) host-2042 <vstats> Constructed command: /usr/lib/vmware-vstats/bin/vstats --config /var/lib/vmware-vstats/config/config.json --vstats-appliance-port-file /etc/vmware/appliance/firewall/vmware-vstats --vapi-auth-json /usr/lib/vmware-vstats/resources/jsonrpc/com.vmware.vstats_metadata.json --resource-bundles-dir /usr/lib/vmware-vstats/resource-bundles --vdt-query-
spec-file-path /usr/lib/vmware-vstats/config/vdtqueryspec.json
YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss Wa(03) host-2042 <vstats> Service exited. Exit code 2
YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss Wa(03) host-2042 [ReadSvcSubStartupData] No startup information from vstats.

• vstats service logs /var/log/vmware/vstats/vstats-stderr.log will show entries similar to below snippets:
  
  YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss    PANIC   vstats/main.go:304      When running outside of VCSA, with the real VC inventory, you must specify '--vc-user' and '--vc-pwd'. Authentication via solution user ceritificate is not supported outside of VCSA.  {"vStats": "MVP"}
main.setupVstatsForRuntime
        bora/vpx/vstats/vstats-svc/src/vstats/main.go:304
main.vstats_main
        bora/vpx/vstats/vstats-svc/src/vstats/main.go:148
main.main
        bora/vpx/vstats/vstats-svc/src/vstats/vcsa_vstats_main.go:34
runtime.main
        GOROOT/src/runtime/proc.go:267

Environment

vCenter Server 7.x
vCenter Server 8.x

Cause

The issue is caused due to a missing file /etc/vmware/.buildInfo that is needed for vstats service during startup.

Resolution

If you encounter the symptoms described above, please contact Broadcom Technical Support for further assistance as the resolution involves replacing config files.