NTP services fail to start after Disaster Recovery DR or Cluster Shutdown on VCF Operations for Networks appliances

Products

• VCF Operations for Networks

Issue/Introduction

• • VCF Operations for Networks services remain offline or unhealthy.
  • NTP services fail to start on one or more platform nodes.
    
    Refer to below screenshot:
    
  • Running systemctl status ntp shows the service is "masked."
  • Issues are observed specifically after using the vrni-cluster-shutdown-script.sh for maintenance or DR activities.

Environment

• VCF Operations for Networks 6.14.x
• VCF Operations for Networks 9.0.x
• VCF Operations for Networks 9.1.x

Cause

The vrni-cluster-shutdown-script.sh masks the NTP service during the shutdown phase to prevent service conflicts. If the cluster is powered back on without successfully completing the "start-services" phase of the script, the NTP service remains masked and cannot star

Resolution

To unmask and start the services, follow these steps:

1. Log in to the Platform Node (usually Node 1) via SSH as the support user.
2. Locate the cluster shutdown script (typically in /home/ubuntu/ or the directory specified in the original shutdown KB).
3. Execute the script with the start-services argument, see command as below:
   
   

   ./vrni-cluster-shutdown-script.sh start-services 127.0.0.1 "/home/ubuntu/vrni-cluster-shutdown-script$(date +%s).log"

4. Monitor the log file to ensure the script completes successfully.
5. Verify the NTP status:
   

   systemctl status ntp

6. Log in to the VCF Operations for Networks GUI to confirm all platform nodes and services are reported as healthy.