ESX host disappears from vCenter webclient inventory when VSC 6.1 is installed.

[ricke]

We Installed VSC 6.1 on our environment and I’ve noticed that when provisioning a datastore with the VSC or directly from onCommand, it gets created and mounted but its information is not available on the VSC plugin until we restart the VSC service.
Also we are tracking an issue that seemed to have pop up when we installed the VSC plug in, where the host does not show up in the vCenter inventory but it only affects the web client, If we use the vSphere C# client we can see the host in the inventory. If we disable and unregister the VSC extension and restart the web client service the host shows up in the inventory of the web client again.

We are using vSphere 6 Multi-vCenter using separate Platfom Service Controllers.

Any one else seen these problems?

[MJS]

If you have both vCenter and VSC co-hosted on same VM (or physical machine) - this fix helped address a different (not disappearing ESXi hosts) issue for us (provided by our NetApp rep).  I'll provide it in case it helps here as well but the issue this solved for us was that the VSC menus didn't appear at all in the Web Client before applying this service dependency first:

The issue seems to be the VSC service (Virtual Storage Console for VMware vSphere Server - NVPF) doesn't start after a reboot. It is set to [Automatic] but it attempts to start before the necessary vCenter services are running and gives up. This explains why it would work after installation but after a reboot it'd stop and throw the fault error.  I manually started the VSC service then opened a new web client session and no errors when accessing the VSC summary page.

The fix I used to handle the reboot was to add a service dependency to the VSC service. I chose the vSphere Web Client service which is one of the last vCenter services to start. 

Open a PowerShell window using 'Run As Administrator' then enter the following command:

& sc.exe config NVPF depend= vspherewebclientsvc

Note there is a <SPACE> after the equal sign.

[dnchance]

Any work arounds when you are using the VCSA and VSC?  Or are we just going to have to downgrade to 6.0 for this.  I have a support ticket open but haven't gotten anywhere with it.

[SYNTAXERROR]

I've got a customer using private Mode in Firefox and the hosts do not disappear any more...

[Anton1]

Downgrading to VSC 6.0 helps. Make sure to cleanup Snapshots afterwards. Looking forward to NetApp fixing this annoying issue of the VSC Plugin.

[dnchance]

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@SYNTAXERROR wrote:

I've got a customer using private Mode in Firefox and the hosts do not disappear any more...

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Wow... that's a great tip.  I tried it in Chrome and incognito mode works too.  That's a good thing to know I am guessing NetApp already knows this but if not that's a great clue.  

Anton, thanks for confirming that the 6.0 downgrade helps.  

[danetruscott]

Running VCS 6.2 with the same problems. However have followef the tip from SYNTAXERROR  and have put IE 11 InPrivate mode and at the moment it seems to be working.

fingers crossed.

Thanks,

[schopro]

Hello,

NetApp told us that the cause of the issue is identified and tracked this under code review #980727

http://mysupport.netapp.com/NOW/cgi-bin/bol?Type=Detail&Display=980727

[dnchance]

Oddly enough my response from support has been very different.  They are saying there is a known issue but it's VMWare's fault and we need to open a ticket with them and they will have to prove its a NetApp issue.   

Some clarity from NetApp on this would be appreciated.

[DeanA]

I am also having the same issue.      If we disable the VSC 6.1 plugin and then restart the VCSA 6.1 u2 web-client the hosts re-appear.    I submitted a case with Netapp.  

[DeanA]

I also tried this.  But this did not seem work for me in Chrome and Firefox but I still see issues.

I've got a customer using private Mode in Firefox and the hosts do not disappear any more...

[JSTANDER79]

any new update on this ? was this ever fixed in VSC 6.2 since i am running into the same problem after upgrading to VSC 6.2 from 4.2.2?

[DEVANSCHEL]

JSTANDER79 are you using VSC 6.2 with vSphere 6.0 or 5.5?  Did you just recently upgrade?

[JSTANDER79]

yes recently upgraded.

Was on 5.1 and build out a brand new vCSA with external PSC on 6.0 update 2.

Migrated the hosts over and upgraded to latest release as well.

After completion the VSC was upgraded to 6.2 (from 4.2.2) and registered to the new vSphere 6 vCSA.  (migrated the repository as well since used for backups/restores and moved to new server)

hosts started disappearing and web client became unusable..

tried the following solutions with no results:

disconnect and remove hosts.

restarted the vCSA

only after removing the plugin through MOB extention manager and restarting the VCSA was I able to see the hosts again and have a consistent environment.

[DEVANSCHEL]

Ah, it sounds like the issue everyone is having.  Hopefully NetApp comes back with a solution soon.

[BryanM]

I have the same issue with VSC 6.2 on vSphere VCSA 6.0.2 and 6.0.1. I called to open a ticket and the tcehnician acted like he had never heard if this issue before and asked that I pull logs from the  VSC and vCenter web client. I will simply not be using the VSC plugin until they work this bug out. It is quite sad that this isnt a known issue and addressed as such based on the amount of the community members experiencing the problem.

[JSTANDER79]

I reverted to 6.1 and now having better stability with the hosts not disappearing as frequently and makes the web client usuable.  At least this a workaround on my side until they provide a fix.

[DeanA]

I have downgraded to VSC 6.0 per Netapps tech support.   This seems to be working for me.  I would open a case with Netapp and they have some prep/cleanup steps you can follow before you install the downgraded version.   Note: I am running Virtual Center appliance 6.0 Update 2.   Netapp has not fully vetted out VSC 6.0 on VSCA 6.0 U2 but was the suggested work around and so far so good.

[ricke]

 I was about to try 6.2 but from your feedback it seems going to 6.0 is the safer bet.

[Karan_Aarberg]

give the VCenter more RAM and more CPU Power,it helps a little bit

[EricNTAP]

A new patch for VSC has been released, 6.2P1.  It can be downloaded here:

http://mysupport.netapp.com/NOW/download/software/vsc_win/6.2P1/

The bug/BURT in question, ESX hosts being hidden in inventory, is 980727.

VSC 6.2 merges the seperateness of VVOLs/VP in 6.0 and no VVOLs but integration with SnapCenter 1.0 of VSC 6.1.

[BryanM]

We have the P1 update installed now and it works without issues.