Error: Save failed when modifying cost drivers in VCF Operations

Products

• VCF Operations

Issue/Introduction

Changes to the cost values for ESXi hardware or additional cost drivers in the UI fail to save.

The UI displays error: "Save failed" or "Server is busy. Please try again later."
Browser developer tools show: "Request failed with status code 400."
There was another error in the bottom of edit dialog box: "error while saving server details."

Environment

VMware Aria Operations 8.17.x, 8.18.x
VCF Operations 9.0.x

Cause

The Apache Struts framework has a default limit on the data payload size sent from the UI to the server. When cost driver configurations are large (e.g., many server groups), the payload exceeds the maxStringLength of 16KB, causing the server to reject the request.

Resolution

Workaround:

1. Log in to each Aria Operations node via SSH as root.
2. Edit the following file: 

   /usr/lib/vmware-vcops/tomcat-web-app/webapps/ui/WEB-INF/classes/struts.xml

3. Locate the parameter struts.multipart.maxStringLength.
4. Change the value from 16384 to 131072.
5. Save and close the file.
6. Restart the UI service on all nodes: 

   systemctl restart vmware-vcops-web

7. Switch to incognito or InPrivate mode. Should the issue persist, try a new/different browser.