Host will not go into maintenance mode

Products

VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Host fails to enter maintenance mode at 2%

We see the error:

Failed to enter namespaces maintenance mode due to Error: system_error Messages: vapi.send.failed<Send of frame failed: N7Vmacore15SystemExceptionE(Connection refused: The remote service is not running, OR is overloaded, OR a firewall is rejecting connections.) [context]zKq7AVECAQAAAI48ewENdnB4ZAAAQxxTbGlidm1hY29yZS5zbwAACBhCACk/QwCWmUoAKHI4AJmSOABtozgAB7I4AATsNwAXRTgAxQ9RAbCOAGxpYnB0aHJlYWQuc28uMAAC3/oPbGliYy5zby42AA==[/context]> . Retry 1

On the vCenter when running the command:
```
service-control --status --all
```
We see that the service "wcp" is not running

When looking at the log var/log/vmware/wcp/stdstream.log.stderr :

Starting service process with pid: 23949.
time="YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS-05:00" level=warning msg="Error opening file /var/log/vmware/certmgr.log: open /var/log/vmware/certmgr.log: permission denied, logging to stderr instead"
time="YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS-05:00" level=info msg="registering actuator TKG Content Library Creation"
time="YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS-05:00" level=info msg="registering actuator Entity Permissions"
time="YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS-05:00" level=info msg="registering actuator CPVM Creation"
panic: Invalid config file /etc/vmware/wcp/wcpsvc.yaml: yaml: unmarshal errors:
  line 19: cannot unmarshal !!map into int

goroutine 1 gp=0xc0000061c0 m=9 mp=0xc000588008 [running]:
panic({0x4e7ee80?, 0xc00021e660?})

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 7.0.x
VMware vCenter Server 8.0.x

Cause

The host is unable to evacuate namespaces because the WCP service is unresponsive. Investigation of the stdstream.log.stderr reveals a panic caused by a corrupted or incorrectly formatted configuration file:

Log Location: /var/log/vmware/wcp/stdstream.log.stderr Relevant Snippet:

panic: Invalid config file /etc/vmware/wcp/wcpsvc.yaml: yaml: unmarshal errors: line 19: cannot unmarshal !!map into int

This error indicates that the wcpsvc.yaml file contains a mapping where an integer value is expected, preventing the service from initializing.

When checking the service status, we see wcp is in a stopped state

Resolution

To resolve this issue, the WCP configuration must be corrected or reset to restore service functionality.

Identify Configuration Mismatch: Review the /etc/vmware/wcp/wcpsvc.yaml file specifically at the line indicated in the log (e.g., Line 19).
Reference Secondary Fix: This issue is frequently a downstream effect of underlying configuration or certificate discrepancies. Follow the remediation steps detailed in [KB 326225] to repair the WCP service environment.
Start Services: Once the configuration is corrected, Start the WCP service: service-control --start wcp