vCenter not loading in browser

[KirbyTech]

I have an ESXi host with vCenter on it, I did an upgrade on vCenter and I am now complete the upgrade process I can't see the web page like before. I can sometimes ping the VM and others I can't. If I go into my ESXi host I can open the console and everything there works fine so I know at least that it is running and connected to something. 

 

What can I try to solve this? I am on day 3 of troubleshooting it so far. 

[Farden]

Can you access the host through the browser at all? For example to get onto mine, I either hit a direct bookmark for it, or I can go to servername.domain.local/com and I get this page which I can then use to get into vsphere

[Farden]

Alternatively, the old vsphere client will still work if you can find a download for it - you just get limited functionality with stuff running v5.5 (I think) and up. Might be useful for some troubleshooting at least.

[Farden]

Oh wow, I just re-read your post and saw you're on about vCenter, not sphere...

I'll see myself out.

 

Here's a link to the vmWare page on spiceworks, this is far more valuable source of knowledge, LTT is more for the tech bros and the uninitiated.

[KirbyTech]

1 hour ago, Farden said:

Oh wow, I just re-read your post and saw you're on about vCenter, not sphere...

I'll see myself out.

 

Here's a link to the vmWare page on spiceworks, this is far more valuable source of knowledge, LTT is more for the tech bros and the uninitiated.

I posted on a few different places and SpiceWorks was one of them along with VMWare community, /r/vmware, a few other sub reddits and forums too. Figured here doesn't take long to post on and the chance of someone helping is worth the few minutes.

[Farden]

 

32 minutes ago, KirbyTech said:

I posted on a few different places and SpiceWorks was one of them along with VMWare community, /r/vmware, a few other sub reddits and forums too. Figured here doesn't take long to post on and the chance of someone helping is worth the few minutes.

Thats fair enough =)

[ElSeniorTaco]

You are running a paid version of esxi I take it? 

Did you drop it into maintenance mode and reboot the host? 

 

I am out on the field today, but if I get home and you still need help, I'll see what I can do

[KirbyTech]

5 hours ago, ElSeniorTaco said:

You are running a paid version of esxi I take it? 

Did you drop it into maintenance mode and reboot the host? 

 

I am out on the field today, but if I get home and you still need help, I'll see what I can do

It is a paid version yes, all properly licensed and that fun stuff.

 

I have rebooted everything a few times over in different orders hoping I might solve it that way. No luck, I'm just about to leave the office so if you have ideas I will try them tomorrow. Been talking to a guy off another form with no luck so far.

[ElSeniorTaco]

3 hours ago, KirbyTech said:

It is a paid version yes, all properly licensed and that fun stuff.

 

I have rebooted everything a few times over in different orders hoping I might solve it that way. No luck, I'm just about to leave the office so if you have ideas I will try them tomorrow. Been talking to a guy off another form with no luck so far.

What exactly happens when you try to connect to the web console? Do you get nothing at all, as in this page cannot be found, or some sort of 500 error or whatever. 

Can you post a screen shot of what comes up? 

Is it only the web console that is affected? 

Can you get into everything via vsphere, vcenter or some other management software? 

Or are you locked out completely? 

Can you ssh in? 

Have you tried connecting from a different machine? 

Do you have any access to logs? 

 

When you say you can ping some vms and not others, did you have the ping able ones set for autostart and the others not?

Are they Linux vms, windows vms?

Are you able to run an Nmap scan on the unpingable ones to find if they are at least alive?

Are the unpingable vms on a different vswitch or something?

Any specific pattern to figure out why some can be pinged and others can't. 

 

What version of vcenter did you upgrade to and from? 

 

Assuming this is not against the rules, can you post links to the other posts you made from other sites so we can gather information on other things you have tried, and questions that have been asked/answered.

 

Assuming you can connect to the host via some sort of management software:

Are you able to use all the other services?

Is everything working, can you change security settings and system settings?

Basically I want to know if all the little things are working as well as the big things, I am curious if all the various services are running or if some are offline.

 

The more detail we can get, the easier the diagnosis will be.

 

Also just out of curiosity, is this thing critical to business services, or is it a personal/test machine, or a redundant system that is currently online via a fail over of some kind.

 

Edited February 15, 2018 by ElSeniorTaco
Added more questions

[KirbyTech]

14 hours ago, ElSeniorTaco said:

What exactly happens when you try to connect to the web console? Do you get nothing at all, as in this page cannot be found, or some sort of 500 error or whatever. 

Can you post a screen shot of what comes up? 

Is it only the web console that is affected? 

Can you get into everything via vsphere, vcenter or some other management software? 

Or are you locked out completely? 

Can you ssh in? 

Have you tried connecting from a different machine? 

Do you have any access to logs? 

 

When you say you can ping some vms and not others, did you have the ping able ones set for autostart and the others not?

Are they Linux vms, windows vms?

Are you able to run an Nmap scan on the unpingable ones to find if they are at least alive?

Are the unpingable vms on a different vswitch or something?

Any specific pattern to figure out why some can be pinged and others can't. 

 

What version of vcenter did you upgrade to and from? 

 

Assuming this is not against the rules, can you post links to the other posts you made from other sites so we can gather information on other things you have tried, and questions that have been asked/answered.

 

Assuming you can connect to the host via some sort of management software:

Are you able to use all the other services?

Is everything working, can you change security settings and system settings?

Basically I want to know if all the little things are working as well as the big things, I am curious if all the various services are running or if some are offline.

 

The more detail we can get, the easier the diagnosis will be.

 

Also just out of curiosity, is this thing critical to business services, or is it a personal/test machine, or a redundant system that is currently online via a fail over of some kind.

 

When I try to connect it times out because it can't reach the server. I can not ping nor SSH into the server either. It is however running and responds to the browser console from inside ESXi. 

 

vCenter is what is broken

 

All VMs are running fine other than the vCenter one. They are all on the same sub net and connected to the same DHCP server (though they are static IPs)

 

Everything is on the default ESXi network settings so vswitch0 and then the uplinks are vmnic0 and vmnic4 of which only vmnic4 is active but shouldn't be an issue with that. 

 

I went from vCenter 5.5 to 6.5 

 

Yes everything else on the ESXi host works just fine. I have tried all services (win server 2016 with DNS and AD), nginx reverse proxy, as well as a few custom application build in-house.

 

This is a simple lab that was meant to be a test for the upgrade before we roll out the actual upgrade on Tuesday. Started this a few weeks ago build it all and ran into a few issues that were mostly just me being told to do a weird setup with nested ESXi when it is not supported by VMWare. Then all the issues that come with that and corrupted ISO files.

 

 

 

[KirbyTech]

Issue resolved. Looks like a co-worked messed up DHCP and that vCenter was not getting the IP MAC address updated to the new MAC (new vm new MAC). I solved it by switching from static like I want to DHCP then back to static under the new IP, that DHCP gave me.

 

Love how I spend a full day and a bit on it. This co-worker needs a good *****

[ElSeniorTaco]

Hahaha, I'm glad you got it resolved I was getting ready to start diving deep.

At least it was a networking issue  I'm totally fine with those  they're pretty easy to figure out. 

Broken Services however would have been a little more tricky .

 

You know I had this tool made by fluke I think it was called a nettool, you can hook it up on to the ethernet cable in between the server and the switch and it could figure out things like IP addresses assigned,   Mac addresses, packet loss all types of stuff, it might have been handy for this one

[KirbyTech]

43 minutes ago, ElSeniorTaco said:

Hahaha, I'm glad you got it resolved I was getting ready to start diving deep.

At least it was a networking issue  I'm totally fine with those  they're pretty easy to figure out. 

Broken Services however would have been a little more tricky .

 

You know I had this tool made by fluke I think it was called a nettool, you can hook it up on to the ethernet cable in between the server and the switch and it could figure out things like IP addresses assigned,   Mac addresses, packet loss all types of stuff, it might have been handy for this one

Any chance you could still send that tool? I would love to try it out and use it next time I have an issue if it fits the bill.

[ElSeniorTaco]

Oh it's a physical object,

 

https://www.amazon.com/Fluke-Networks-NT-PRO-NeTool-Network/dp/B00006HVIV

It did quite alot, not sure of the full specs of what it can do, been a while since I used it. 

plus it cost me an arm and a leg, it's not going anywhere lol . 

I think they have much newer ones with better capabilities though , apparently mine is old and discontinued

 

You would think they have a app somewhere that lets you use two network cards and lets you plug the switch and a computer to it and then analyzes the packets going through the two to figure out IP addresses and what's being passed etc.

 

I think it would be a good tool to have available on a laptop along with everything else you need for your work

Spoiler

 

[KirbyTech]

On 2/15/2018 at 6:47 PM, ElSeniorTaco said:

Oh it's a physical object,

 

https://www.amazon.com/Fluke-Networks-NT-PRO-NeTool-Network/dp/B00006HVIV

It did quite alot, not sure of the full specs of what it can do, been a while since I used it. 

plus it cost me an arm and a leg, it's not going anywhere lol . 

I think they have much newer ones with better capabilities though , apparently mine is old and discontinued

 

You would think they have a app somewhere that lets you use two network cards and lets you plug the switch and a computer to it and then analyzes the packets going through the two to figure out IP addresses and what's being passed etc.

 

I think it would be a good tool to have available on a laptop along with everything else you need for your work

  Reveal hidden contents

 

I was thinking like you said, an application of some sorts. All good, I will look into getting one of them. Can never have enough tools in the bag, well long as I can carry it anyways lol