Activation of Supervisor Cluster fails with InternalServerError (500)

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• Tanzu Kubernetes Runtime

Issue/Introduction

When attempting to activate a Supervisor for the first time on VMware vCenter Server 9.x you get the error: 

InternalServerError (com.vmware.vapi.std.errors.internal_server_error) => { messages = [LocalizableMessage (com.vmware.vapi.std.localizable_message) => { id = vcenter.wcp.authorization.general, defaultMessage = An unexpected error occurred during authorization., args = [], params = <null>, localized = <null> }], data = <null>, errorType = INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR }

In vCenter logs /var/log/vmware/wcp/wcpsvc.log we see an error similar to: 

XXXX-XX-XXTXX:XX:XX.XXXZ  warning wcp [vcrestlib/helper.go:176] [opID=wcp-AuthzFilter] Request to service failed; POST, url: http://localhost:1080/rest/com/vmware/cis/authz/privilege?~action=batch-has-privileges, Code: 500, Body: '{"type":"com.vmware.vapi.std.errors.internal_server_error","value":{"error_type":"INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR","messages":[{"args":["com.vmware.vapi.std.errors.InternalServerError"],"default_message":"Provider method implementation threw unexpected exception: com.vmware.vapi.std.errors.InternalServerError","id":"vapi.bindings.method.impl.unexpected"}]}}'
XXXX-XX-XXTXX:XX:XX.XXXZ  error wcp [namespace/authz.go:223] [opID=wcp-AuthzFilter] Failed to check privileges for user:  <[email protected]>\<User>, groupnames: [<groupnames>], resources: [{PermissionFolder global-permission}], privileges: [System.View]: HTTP request failed; POST, url: http://localhost:1080/rest/com/vmware/cis/authz/privilege?~action=batch-has-privileges, code: 500, body: '{"type":"com.vmware.vapi.std.errors.internal_server_error","value":{"error_type":"INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR","messages":[{"args":["com.vmware.vapi.std.errors.InternalServerError"],"default_message":"Provider method implementation threw unexpected exception: com.vmware.vapi.std.errors.InternalServerError","id":"vapi.bindings.method.impl.unexpected"}]}}'

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 9.x
Tanzu Kubernetes Runtime

Cause

This is caused by the user attempting to do activate a Supervisor, but do not have permissions to do so. 

Resolution

• Switch User Session: Log out of the vSphere Client and log back in using a different account with vCenter Administrator privileges (e.g., the local [email protected] or a different verified domain admin account).

• Verify Permissions: Ensure the original user has the System.View privilege assigned at the Global level and sufficient permissions on the Cluster object.