VSC 6.2P1 Install/Registration/Integration unsuccessful

[jgebhart2]

I have VSC 6.2P1 installed on a dedicated Windows 2012 server.

I also have a vSphere environment with two vCenter Servers.

They are both vCenter appliances running version 6.0.0 Build 3634794.

I successfully registered VSC with "vCenter Server A" and restarted my vSphere Web Client.

I logged back in and got a blank white screen. The framework of the application existed but both the left, middle and right panes were blank white. No content at all.

I even logged in using a different browser - same issue.

I manually unregistered the VSC plugin using the VMware MOB, and the vSphere Web Client began working normally again.

The installation guide has some ambiguity in the notes about this:

"If you register VSC to a vCenter Server that is part of a multi-vCenter Server environment, each instance of VSC must be registered individually with a vCenter Server." - Makes it sound as if every vCenter Server in a multi-vCenter Server environment needs to be registered with its own VSC server.

"If you are using Virtual Storage Console for VMware vSphere in an environment where a single VMware vSphere Web Client is managing multiple vCenter Servers, you need to register an instance of VSC with each vCenter Server so that there is a 1:1 pairing between VSC and the vCenter Server. Doing this enables you to manage all of the servers running vCenter 5.5 or later in both linked mode and non-linked mode from a single vSphere Web Client." - This makes it sound as if I only need to register each vCenter Server that I want to manage with VSC, but doesn't require this if I don't want to manage a specific vCenter Server with VSC.

"Note: In a multiple vCenter Server environment, you must register each vCenter Server with an instance of VSC, even if some of the vCenter Servers are not associated with NetApp Storage." - And then this makes it sound like I need to register every vCenter Server in the environment with an instance of VSC regardless of whether I want to manage the vCenter server with VSC.

It goes on to say, "Also, if the VMware inventory includes one vCenter Server that does not have a VSC server registered to it, you will not be able to see any instances of VSC, even though the VMware inventory has one or more vCenter Servers that are registered with VSC." - However, what I experienced was that the vSphere Web Client wouldn't fully load, not just the VSC instance/plugin.

Can anyone tell me exactly how this works? And can anyone tell me what the failure mode looks like if this is done improperly? Is it possibly the same failure mode I described?

I've collected logs from the VSC server and opened a case with NetApp Support - still waiting to hear back. Just hoping someone here might have some useful experience to share.

[satishv]

Each vCenter server will require a VSC instance. Were there any prominent errors in the logs that you noticed?

[jgebhart2]

There were no errors on the interface, and many errors in many of the log files. However, I compared the logs from this instance to the logs from an instance in a sandbox environment (without multi-vCenter Server) that works and it looked to be all the same errors.

If there is indeed a requirement that every vCenter Server have a VSC Server registered regardless of whether I want to manage it with VSC or not, I think that's a good place to start. I just wish I could find some conclusive evidence or prescedent to confirm that.

I'm having my VMware team add another vCenter Server to the sandbox environment to see if I can duplicate the issue and test a resolution before taking a shot in the dark and having to back out a change in our change control system again.

[screamingfit]

You may not see this but I have the exact same issue.  Seems insane I have to spin up a bunch of Windows servers all throughout the globe just to use VSC in one small site.  Did you ever get a definitive answer?

[jgebhart2]

This is the question I asked:

"I just want to clarify – the installation document is very clear that I can’t register a VSC server with multiple vCenter servers. What wasn’t clear to me was whether every vCenter server MUST have a VSC server registered with it. For example:

I have vCenterA and vCenterB. They are running in linked mode.

I want to use VSC to backup/recovery VMs managed by vCenterA.

I don’t want to perform any backup/recovery of VMs managed by vCenterB.

Do I still need to create a second VSC server and register it with vCenterB in order to use VSC with vCenterA?"

This is the most direct answer I've gotten:

"That's never been really clear, and I think it's because it's never been tested that way.  I've never had a customer that didn't have it on one but did on another, so I don't know either.

I wouldn't expect it to work in linked mode if you've only got it installed on one of the vCenter hosts in the linked mode - but, it will work on that vCenter if you log into it directly instead of living into linked mode."

In the end I created a second VSC server for the second vCenter and all is well.

[screamingfit]

Thanks for the quick reply!

I just wish there was a reason that Netapp could give other than "because" 🙂

[HyperDiskhead]

Sorry I don't have any info to share apart from P2 is out encase you didn't notice.