After vCenter update with VCHA configured, services do not start correctly after a shutdown or restart

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

vCenter services do not start correctly after a shutdown or restart

Environment

8.0.x

Cause

VCHA environment was not removed prior to update

Remove a vCenter HA Configuration
https://techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/vmware-cis/vsphere/vsphere/8-0/vsphere-availability/vcenter-server-high-availability/manage-your-vcenter-ha-cluster/remove-a-vcenter-ha-configuration.html

 

Resolution

1) Use lsdoctor to remove any vCenter stale entries

Using the 'lsdoctor' Tool
https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article/320837/using-the-lsdoctor-tool.html

python lsdoctor.py -s

python lsdoctor.py -t

Reboot VCSA

2) Run VDT to check if there are any more duplicate vCenters for the lookup service

Using the VCF Diagnostic Tool for vSphere (VDT)
https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article/344917/using-the-vcf-diagnostic-tool-for-vspher.html

3) Run vCert to clean up any expired certificates or yellow warnings

vCert - Scripted vCenter expired certificate replacement
https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article/385107/vcert-scripted-vcenter-expired-certific.html

Do a Power...Reset on VCSA VM since certificate work must have a cold boot equivalent and the Power...Reset option is that choice.  Do not do a graceful shutdown as old certificate information may be injected before the next initialization of services after a reboot.

4) Once the services have started, you can test the VAMI and vSphere client logins

SSH session:  watch service-control --status

To watch the services as they are booting up. Once the list is completed (might have a few services that didn't start as they are not in use), the vCenter is back Online.

Test1:  Login to VAMI

Test2: Login to vSphere client

5) Check the VCHA settings after removing VCHA (Passive and Witness Nodes)

Many vCenter services are not started due to VCHA settings are still in config file
https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article/389873/many-vcenter-services-are-not-started-du.html

6) If you see the error "Failed unmouting /storage/log" then is a known issue and will be corrected in a future release

"Failed unmouting /storage/log" error is seen during vCenter Server Virtual Machine reboot on the virtual machine console window
https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article/393449

Test3: Reboot vCenter and verify all services are started. Wait for all services to boot before testing the VAMI and vSphere client.

Check all vCenter operations are working.