At times you may see the vCenter UI or the vCenter Appliance UI is unresponsive and as you try rebooting or restarting services, it may be not come up
Snapshot the vCenter
SSH into the appliance as root
Shell access is granted to root
Start vCenter services
Execute the below command to start vCenter services
root@sfo01-m01-vc01.ash.local [ ~ ]# service-control –start –all
Navigate to to cd /etc/systemd/system/
root@sfo01-m01-vc01.ash.local [ ~ ]# find /etc/systemd/system/ -lname ‘/dev/null’ -exec ls {} \;
/etc/systemd/system/vmware-content-library.service
As seen here all the services are masked which could be the reason why services fail to come back online
root@sfo01-m01-vc01.ash.local [ ~ ]# cd /etc/systemd/system/
root@sfo01-m01-vc01.ash.local [ /etc/systemd/system ]# systemctl list-unit-files | grep masked
lwsmd.service masked
vmafdd.service masked
vmcad.service masked
vmcam.service masked
vmdird.service masked
vmdnsd.service masked
vmware-analytics.service masked
vmware-cis-license.service masked
vmware-cm.service masked
vmware-content-library.service masked
vmware-eam.service masked
vmware-imagebuilder.service masked
vmware-mbcs.service masked
vmware-netdump.service masked
vmware-perfcharts.service masked
vmware-pod.service masked
vmware-pschealth.service masked
vmware-rhttpproxy.service masked
vmware-sca.service masked
vmware-sps.service masked
vmware-statsmonitor.service masked
vmware-sts-idmd.service masked
vmware-stsd.service masked
vmware-updatemgr.service masked
vmware-vapi.service masked
vmware-vcha.service masked
vmware-vmon.service masked
vmware-vmonapi.service masked
vmware-vmware-postgres-archiver.service masked
vmware-vpostgres.service masked
vmware-vpxd-svcs.service masked
vmware-vpxd.service masked
vmware-vsan-dps.service masked
vmware-vsan-health.service masked
vmware-vsm.service masked
vsphere-client.service masked
vsphere-ui.service masked
ctrl-alt-del.target masked
root@sfo01-m01-vc01.ash.local [ /etc/systemd/system ]#
Execute the commands as shown
root@sfo01-m01-vc01.ash.local [ /etc/systemd/system ]#
root@sfo01-m01-vc01.ash.local [ /etc/systemd/system ]# find /etc/systemd/system/ -lname ‘/dev/null’ -exec rm {} \;
root@sfo01-m01-vc01.ash.local [ /etc/systemd/system ]# find /etc/systemd/system/ -lname ‘/dev/null’ -exec ls {} \;
If we now recheck, all the services are unmasked
root@sfo01-m01-vc01.ash.local [ /etc/systemd/system ]# systemctl list-unit-files | grep masked
ctrl-alt-del.target masked
root@sfo01-m01-vc01.ash.local [ /etc/systemd/system ]#
Verify the current services
root@sfo01-m01-vc01.ash.local [ /etc/systemd/system ]#
root@sfo01-m01-vc01.ash.local [ /etc/systemd/system ]# systemctl daemon-reload
root@sfo01-m01-vc01.ash.local [ /etc/systemd/system ]# service-control –status –all
Stopped:
applmgmt lwsmd pschealth vmafdd vmcad vmcam vmdird vmdnsd vmonapi vmware-analytics vmware-cis-license vmware-cm vmware-content-library vmware-eam vmware-imagebuilder vmware-mbcs vmware-netdumper vmware-perfcharts vmware-pod vmware-postgres-archiver vmware-rbd-watchdog vmware-rhttpproxy vmware-sca vmware-sps vmware-statsmonitor vmware-sts-idmd vmware-stsd vmware-updatemgr vmware-vapi-endpoint vmware-vcha vmware-vmon vmware-vpostgres vmware-vpxd vmware-vpxd-svcs vmware-vsan-health vmware-vsm vsan-dps vsphere-client vsphere-ui
Restart the vCenter services
root@sfo01-m01-vc01.ash.local [ /etc/systemd/system ]# service-control –start –all
Operation not cancellable. Please wait for it to finish…
Performing start operation on service lwsmd…
Successfully started service lwsmd
Performing start operation on service vmafdd…
Successfully started service vmafdd
Performing start operation on service vmdird…
Successfully started service vmdird
Performing start operation on service vmcad…
Successfully started service vmcad
Performing start operation on service vmware-sts-idmd…
Successfully started service vmware-sts-idmd
Performing start operation on service vmware-stsd…
Successfully started service vmware-stsd
Performing start operation on service vmdnsd…
Successfully started service vmdnsd
Performing start operation on profile: ALL…
Successfully started service vmware-vmon
Successfully started profile: ALL.
Performing start operation on service vmware-pod…
Successfully started service vmware-pod
Verify if services have all started succesfully
root@sfo01-m01-vc01.ash.local [ /etc/systemd/system ]# service-control –status –all
Running:
applmgmt lwsmd pschealth vmafdd vmcad vmdird vmdnsd vmonapi vmware-analytics vmware-cis-license vmware-cm vmware-content-library vmware-eam vmware-perfcharts vmware-pod vmware-postgres-archiver vmware-rhttpproxy vmware-sca vmware-sps vmware-statsmonitor vmware-sts-idmd vmware-stsd vmware-updatemgr vmware-vapi-endpoint vmware-vmon vmware-vpostgres vmware-vpxd vmware-vpxd-svcs vmware-vsan-health vmware-vsm vsphere-client vsphere-ui
Stopped:
vmcam vmware-imagebuilder vmware-mbcs vmware-netdumper vmware-rbd-watchdog vmware-vcha vsan-dps
root@sfo01-m01-vc01.ash.local [ /etc/systemd/system ]#
root@sfo01-m01-vc01.ash.local [ /etc/systemd/system ]#