Unable to login to ESX hosts with AD credentials

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

• Attempting to login to ESX host fails with error "Cannot complete login due to an incorrect user name or password":

• Checking the domain status shows the membership status as "Other Problem" instead of "OK" 

• Attempting to leave the host from the domain fails with error "Failed to leave the domain <domainName> : The user or group named <group> does not exist"

Environment

• VMware vSphere ESX
• VMware vCenter Server 

Resolution

1. Put the ESX host that is unable to join the domain into maintenance mode. 
2. Login to the ESX host via ssh with root credentials. 
3. Take a backup of the likewise DB file: 
   cp /etc/likewise/db/registry.db /etc/likewise/db/registry.db.bak
4. Connect to another working host that is joined to the domain and copy /etc/likewise/db/registry.db to the problem host 
5. Change the permissions: 
   chmod 600 /etc/likewise/db/registry.db
6. Reboot the host.
7. Query likewise DB to ensure there are no errors:
   /usr/lib/vmware/likewise/bin/domainjoin-cli query
8. Join the domain: 

/usr/lib/vmware/likewise/bin/domainjoin-cli join <domainname> <username>