Unable to provision new or expand existing VMDKs for existing VMs from the vCenter GUI

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vCenter Server 8.0

Issue/Introduction

When attempting to add a new VMDK to a VM from the vCenter GUI you receive the error message:

PBM error occurred during PreReconfigureCallback: Fault cause: pbm.fault.PBMFault

The vCenter logging indicates the following:

[/var/log/vmware/vpxd/vpxd.log]

####-##-#####:##:##.######:## error vpxd[07406] [Originator@6876 sub=pbm opID=########-########-auto-#####-##:##############]  PBM error occurred during PreReconfigureCallback: Fault cause: pbm.fault.PBMFault
--> ;
--> Error when trying to run pre-provision validation;
-->
####-##-#####:##:##.######:## error vpxd[07406] [Originator@6876 sub=VmProv opID=########-########-auto-#####-##:##############] Get exception while executing action vpx.vmprov.InvokeCallbacks:
--> (vmodl.fault.SystemError) {
-->    reason = " PBM error occurred during PreReconfigureCallback: Fault cause: pbm.fault.PBMFault
--> ;
--> Error when trying to run pre-provision validation;
--> ",
-->    msg = "",
--> }

[/var/log/vmware/vmware-sps/sps.log]

####-##-#####:##:##.######:## [pool-#-thread-##] WARN opID=########-########-auto-#####-##:############## com.vmware.vim.storage.common.vc.impl.VcInventoryImpl - Error retrieving the value for property config.hardware.device: (vim.fault.NoPermission) {
   faultCause = null,
   faultMessage = null,
   object = ManagedObjectReference: type = VirtualMachine, value = vm-#####, serverGuid = ########-####-####-####-############,
   privilegeId = System.Read,
   missingPrivileges = (vim.fault.EntityPrivileges) [
      (vim.fault.EntityPrivileges) {
         dynamicType = null,
         dynamicProperty = null,
         entity = ManagedObjectReference: type = VirtualMachine, value = vm-#####, serverGuid = ########-####-####-####-############,
         privilegeIds = (STRING) [
            System.Read
         ]
      }
   ]
}

A new VMDK can be added when done from the ESXi host web GUI.

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 8.0.3

Cause

The SPS user VSPHERE.LOCAL\sps-######-####-####-####-###### is missing from the vCenter Administrators group and/or the VSPHERE.LOCAL\Administrators group has been deleted from the vCenter.

Resolution

Reboot the VCSA and a failsafe check will re-create and add the proper accounts to the permissions.

Additional Information

Error: "vim.fault.NoPermission" when SPS service fails to start