I was trying to repoint the vCenter ( vCSA 6.1 U1 ) using vmafd-cli from the PSC01 ( External PSC ) to another PSC02 ( External PSC ) which is configured as the replication partner to the PSC01 and our setup is two PSC’s connected with same domain within the same site.
/usr/lib/vmware-vmafd/bin/vmafd-cli set-dc-name –server-name localhost –dc-namesystemname_of_second_PSC
It was successfully repointed only when PSC01 is live and online and it fails when the PSC01 is down with the error while starting the inventory service ..
Stdout = Starting VMware Inventory Service…
Waiting for VMware Inventory Service…………………………………………………………………………
WARNING: VMware Inventory Service may have failed to start.
Stderr =
2015-09-23T18:07:58.521Z {
“resolution”: null,
“detail”: [
{
“args”: [
“Command: [‘/sbin/service’, u’vmware-invsvc’, ‘start’]\nStderr: ”
],
“id”: “install.ciscommon.command.errinvoke”,
“localized”: “An error occurred while invoking external command : ‘Command: [‘/sbin/service’, u’vmware-invsvc’, ‘start’]\nStderr: ‘”,
“translatable”: “An error occurred while invoking external command : ‘%(0)s’”
}
],
“componentKey”: null,
“problemId”: null
}
ERROR:root:Unable to start service vmware-invsvc, Exception: {
“resolution”: null,
“detail”: [
{
“args”: [
“vmware-invsvc”
],
“id”: “install.ciscommon.service.failstart”,
“localized”: “An error occurred while starting service ‘vmware-invsvc’”,
“translatable”: “An error occurred while starting service ‘%(0)s’”
}
],
“componentKey”: null,
“problemId”: null
}
Unable to start service vmware-invsvc, Exception: {
“resolution”: null,
“detail”: [
{
“args”: [
“vmware-invsvc”
],
“id”: “install.ciscommon.service.failstart”,
“localized”: “An error occurred while starting service ‘vmware-invsvc’”,
“translatable”: “An error occurred while starting service ‘%(0)s’”
}
],
“componentKey”: null,
“problemId”: null
}
But at the same time in another different environment it was successfully re-pointing the VC from one PSC01 to PSC02 without any issue even the PSC01 is down.
I was searching the KB articles and also raised the ticket with VMware but they mentioned the inventory service is failing because of certificate issue , in my case it is fresh installation and really couldn’t find the exact cause for the issue.
At the right time the below blog got released mentioning in 6.1 release there are few enhancements in the re-pointing with few rules.
So they introduced an update on cmsso-util with two rules.
Reconfiguration Requirements
- The vCenter Server instance must be an embedded deployment model.
- The target Platform Services Controller must be a replication partner of the existing embedded Platform Services Controller in the same SSO Domain.
Note: In vCenter Server 6.0 Update 1, we only support a single transition from embedded deployment to a external deployment (MxN) model for per SSO domain. See the Known Issues section of the Release Notes for additional details.
Repointing Requirements
- The vCenter Server instance must be an external deployment model.
- The target Platform Services Controller must be a replication partner of the existing external Platform Services Controller in the same SSO Domain.
cmsso-util repoint –repoint-psc “PSC2.vsphere.local”
Pls check the blog for more steps and instructions to run the cmsso-util and by downloading the updated cmsso from KB 2131191 , it resolved my issue.
I want to share here is to repoint or reconfigure the VC from one external PSC to another external PSC , it should be configured as the replication partner and anything which is standalone or fresh external PSC then it wont work.As per VMware we need to do manual changes to do the same and no document is available.
Also as per the blog we can also repoint the external PSC from one site to another site and in my testing that only be possible when the active PSC is online because we need to do two steps to re-point the VC from one site external PSC to another site external PSC.
1 . cmsso-util repoint
2. cmsso-util move-services
Move services will work only when the active PSC is up and running , if you try to run when it is crash or down then it will fail with the below error.
In-case just re-point the PSC without the move then it will show the information as below.
Below is the pic of move command when it runs with active PSC is running on the source site.
I have written the powershell script to do the re-point process and download the same from the blog.
Also pls check the below link to automate the re-point using the script
Reference :
Techbrainblog 