vCenter Appliance File-Based restore fails at 97% during service startup

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

When attempting a file-based restore of a vCenter Appliance via the vCenter Management Interface or the installer wizard, the restore process stalls or fails at 97% during service startup.

Environment

VMware vCenter 9.0

Cause

This issue occurs because the /etc/hosts file on the source vCenter contains duplicate or corrupted blocks.

Resolution

To resolve this issue, you must correct the /etc/hosts file on the source vCenter, take a fresh file-based backup, and then perform the restore process again.

1. Log in to the source vCenter Appliance as root via SSH.

2. Open the /etc/hosts file using a text editor such as vi:
   
   vi /etc/hosts

3. Remove any duplicate, or corrupted blocks.

4. Save and close the file.

5. Log in to the VAMI of the source vCenter and start a new file-based backup.

6. Launch the vCenter Installer and proceed with the Restore operation using the newly generated backup metadata.