VMware vCenter Management Webservices features do not function properly

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• Unable to query the virtual machine details using the vCenter Server search option
• Querying the virtual machine details using the vCenter Server search option fails
• You see the error:
  
  Login to the query service failed.
  
  
• In the sms.log file located at C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware VirtualCenter\Logs , you see entries similar to:
  
  2011-05-10 11:26:18,102 [Timer-2] DEBUG com.vmware.vim.sms.util.SimpleTimeCounter - TIMER STARTED: Query get_vpx_vmFile
  2011-05-10 11:27:48,488 [Timer-2] ERROR com.vmware.vim.sms.provider.VcProviderImpl - Failed populating service cache java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: Java heap space
  2011-05-10 11:27:48,488 [Timer-2] DEBUG com.vmware.vim.sms.provider.VcProviderImpl - Checking in inactiveCacheDbClient
  2011-05-10 11:27:48,488 [Timer-2] DEBUG com.vmware.vim.sms.provider.VcProviderImpl - Checking in vcDbClient
  2011-05-10 11:27:48,488 [Timer-2] DEBUG com.vmware.vim.sms.ServiceImpl - Checking in inactiveCacheDbClient
  
  
• Other VMware VirtualCenter Management Webservices features may not function properly. VMware VirtualCenter Management Webservices features include Performance Overview, Storage Views, Hardware Status, vCenter Service Status, License Reporting Manager and vCenter Server search option.
• Errors similar to the following may be reported in the C:\Program Files\VMware\Infrastructure\tomcat\logs\stdout_<datestamp>.log file on the vCenter Server:
  
  Exception in thread "Thread-13" java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: Java heap space
  
  
• The amount of memory used by the tomcat6.exe process in task manager is equal to or slightly more than the amount of memory configured for the Tomcat Maximum memory pool.
• Tomcat memory related issues may occur on a vCenter Server where the inventory is quite large (more than 100 hosts, 1000 virtual machines).

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 4.1.x
VMware vCenter Server 5.0.x

Cause

The amount of memory configured for the Tomcat Maximum memory pool can quite often be too low in large vCenter Server environments. If Tomcat runs out of memory, some or all of the VMware VirtualCenter Management Webservices based features might not function correctly, or at all.

Resolution

This issue may occur due to a conservative Java Memory Pool setting. The Tomcat service depends on the Java Memory Pool setting for its various functions.

To resolve this issue, increase the value of memory pool in the Java Memory Pool setting.

To increase the maximum memory pool value:

1. Click Start > All Programs > VMware > VMware Tomcat > Configure Tomcat.
2. Click the Java tab.
3. Double the number in the Initial and Maximum memory pool field.
4. Click OK.
5. Restart the VMware VirtualCenter Management Webservices and VMware VirtualCenter Server services. For more information, see Stopping, starting, or restarting vCenter services (1003895).

Note: It may take a period of time for the increase in the memory pool value to take effect, up to 15 minutes. A further increase of the Maximum memory pool value may be required, until the issue is resolved and no OutOfMemory errors are recorded in the stdout_datestamp.log file, as noted in the Symptoms section.

Additional Information

This issue may also occur in smaller environments, but is much less likely. If the OutOfMemory errors are present in the stdout_datestamp.log file, use the resolution noted in this article to resolve the issue.

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