EAM service fails to start with error "Invalid boolean value ${pmm.infra}" in vCenter Server
Article ID: 434554
Updated On:
Products
Issue/Introduction
- The EAM service fails to start in vCenter Server, and the following error is seen in the EAM logs during service startup.
- Logs on vCenter shows : /var/log/vmware/eam/web/localhost.log :
YYYY-MM-DDT07:55:27.299Z | INFO | main | ApplicationContext.java | 623 | No Spring WebApplicationInitializer types detected on classpath
YYYY-MM-DDT07:55:27.366Z | INFO | main | ApplicationContext.java | 623 | Initializing Spring root WebApplicationContext
YYYY-MM-DDT07:55:30.217Z | ERROR | main | StandardContext.java | 4024 | Exception sending context initialized event to listener instance of class [org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoaderListener]
org.springframework.beans.factory.UnsatisfiedDependencyException: Error creating bean with name 'vcInventory' defined in class path resource [eam-server-vim-beans.xml]: Unsatisfied dependency expressed through constructor parameter 10: Could not convert argument value of type [java.lang.String] to required type [boolean]: Failed to convert value of type 'java.lang.String' to required type 'boolean'; nested exception is java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Invalid boolean value [${pmm.infra}]
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.ConstructorResolver.createArgumentArray(ConstructorResolver.java:756) ~[spring-beans-5.3.42.jar:5.3.42]
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.ConstructorResolver.autowireConstructor(ConstructorResolver.java:220) ~[spring-beans-5.3.42.jar:5.3.42]
- In the EAM Spring configuration file:
/usr/lib/vmware-eam/config/eam-server-vim-beans.xml
the following entry exists:
<constructor-arg value="${pmm.infra}"/>
The value ${pmm.infra} is expected to be resolved from a properties file during service initialization.
However, the value is not resolved and is passed as a string, causing the boolean conversion to fail.
Environment
vCenter Server
Cause
The EAM service uses Spring configuration where property placeholders like ${pmm.infra} are loaded from property files such as:
/etc/vmware-eam/eam-vim.properties/etc/vmware-eam/features.properties
During startup, the property loader resolves these placeholders before creating beans.
The vcInventory bean expects the parameter pmm.infra to be a boolean value:
trueorfalse
If the property cannot be resolved, the literal value ${pmm.infra} is passed to the constructor.
Since the constructor expects a boolean, the conversion fails and EAM service startup stops.
This can happen when:
Property file is missing
Property entry is missing
Property value is empty
Property file corrupted
Incorrect file copied during patch / restore
Permission issue prevents reading the property file
In this case, the features.properties file did not contain a valid value for pmm.infra.
Resolution
- Log in to the vCenter Server Appliance (vCSA) as root via SSH.
- Navigate to the ESX Agent Manager (EAM) configuration directory:
cd /etc/vmware-eam
- Verify file ownership and permissions for the configuration files. All files must be owned by root:root with permissions set as shown below:
- Validate the content of features.properties.
root@fqdn[ /etc/vmware-eam ]# cat features.properties#########################################################################
# Copyright 2017-2023 VMware, Inc.
# All rights reserved. VMware Confidential
#########################################################################
# The values will be updated on each EAM restart based on
# Feature State Switch mappings from "features.json"
use.sha256.hash.algorithm=false
lccm.solutions=false
inaccessible.system.vms=false
quick.patch.partial.mm=true
nsx.partial.mm=false
pmm.infra=true
- Validate the content of eam-vim.properties.
Replace VCFQDN with the actual Fully Qualified Domain Name of the vCenter Server.
If the ls.node.id is missing or incorrect, retrieve the correct GUID by running:
cat /etc/vmware/install-defaults/vmdir.ldu-guid
root@fqdn[ /etc/vmware-eam ]# cat eam-vim.properties
#########################################################################
# Copyright 2013-2022 VMware, Inc. All rights reserved. VMware Confidential
#########################################################################
# VC location
vc.proxy.host=localhost
vc.proxy.port=80
vc.tunnelSdkUri.template=https://##{VC_HOST_NAME}##:8089/sdk/vimService
vc.tunnelSdkUri=https://VCFQDN:8089/sdk/vimService
# VC SSL trust
vc.truststore.type=VKS
vc.truststore.storename=TRUSTED_ROOTS
# EAM location
# Hostname or IP of the EAM server
# Fill only if EAM is not running on the same host as VC
eam.host=VCFQDN
# EAM AuthN
#
eam.keystore.type=VKS
eam.keystore.storename=vpxd-extension
eam.key.alias=vpxd-extension
# EAM Service Account Authentication
eam.service.account=
eam.service.account.password.file=
# LookupService
ls.url=https://VCFQDN:443/lookupservice/sdk
ls.node.id=xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxxxxxxxx
############################################################################
#
# The data below is used by not-eam-vim beans hence is going to be moved out
#
############################################################################
# Port and scheme configuration which is used by the ESX 6.x hosts to reach EAM Vib
# file server.
eam.ext.port=9087
eam.ext.scheme=https
# Port and scheme configuration which is used by the ESX 5.x hosts to reach EAM Vib
# file server.
eam.ext.port.deprecated=80
eam.ext.scheme.deprecated=http
drs.demandCapacityRatio=100
- If any file content is corrupted or incorrect, recreate the file using the corrected parameters from above.
- Restart the EAM service to apply changes:
service-control --restart vmware-eam
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