Inventory of ESXi servers

[Tomasz Woźniak]

Hello,

I am trying to collect the inventory on VMware ESXi servers in my enviroment.

The network discovery task run fine. In the Virtual Machine Management page, I can see the host and corresponding guest servers.

However when I try to run the VMM Inventory task nothing happens. In the main view the status is running, in detailed view it says queued for 2 days now.

The VVM plugin is installed on NS.

Any ideas ?

Tomasz

[Igor Perevozchikov]

Hi Tomasz,

1. You have correct credentials specified for "VMWare Protocol" in "Default Connection Profile"? What timeout is set for "VMWare protocol" credentials?

2. please check this discussion https://www.symantec.com/connect/forums/tangled-tasks-policy-being-reconstructed-patch-management-distribution-task

Probably your 'Server Side Tasks' such as VMM Inventory are stuck in queue.

Thanks,

IP.

[Tomasz Woźniak]

Hi Igor,

Ad.1 I was successfuly able to scan and inventory the same VMware host from my test console that is placed in completely different country. For sure the credentials are correct. The timeout is default 30 seconds.

The discovery task output looks ok.

Total devices processed: 13
New devices added: 0
Devices updated: 13
Device add failures: 0
Device update failures: 0

 

Ad.2 I have run the following query

select * from TaskInstances ts
Where taskserverguid = '6af1645a-97c4-45e5-832b-47409a776172' --NS guid
order by StartTime desc

There are number of tasks, I would say the number of tasks looks normal. For most tasks the InstanceStatus is 2 that stands to running.

I also restarted the services on NS.

What else I can check or how to find out the tasks name ?

thanks

Tomasz

[Igor Perevozchikov]

Tomasz, I've sent registry keys to enable more traces in NS log while task is running. Add registry keys and run a VMM Inventory task for ESX - check Altiris Log Viewer, to see what can be a root cause of such behavior.

[Tomasz Woźniak]

hi Igor,

I enabled more traces in the log, unfortunetly there is nothing at verbose and trace level, and nothing useful in the Info stream. Now the task fails immediately:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Starting task instance: 'Run VMM Inventory' (05aad509-6eb8-4243-8b79-b354e7db2fd3) from 'VMM Inventory' (926ba814-4151-421f-9be7-fbf60eb36580, 0ba3af3c-e4ea-4441-a15c-1ddb9f1bdedc)

License for the VMM Solution is working properly 

Agent XML at Sever side:-<vman><ConnectionParam /><command>vManInventoryTask</command><inputparams><vm><commands /></vm></inputparams><LicenseEnabled>true</LicenseEnabled></vman>

Resuming task instance 'Run VMM Inventory' (05aad509-6eb8-4243-8b79-b354e7db2fd3), 07/04/2017 14:10:53

Task 'VMM Inventory' (926ba814-4151-421f-9be7-fbf60eb36580, 0ba3af3c-e4ea-4441-a15c-1ddb9f1bdedc) (07/04/2017 14:10:53) - has met the minimum number of child instances complete.

Task instance is completed: 'Run VMM Inventory' (05aad509-6eb8-4243-8b79-b354e7db2fd3, 0ba3af3c-e4ea-4441-a15c-1ddb9f1bdedc), started at 07/04/2017 14:10:53, status=Failed, total time=00:00:23.1042807
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile I installed additionally the VMM plugin on the remote Task server. It did not make any difference.

Since I ran out of ideas I am going to open a support case

Tomasz

[Igor Perevozchikov]

Hi Tomasz!

1. I've sent another correct registry keys with steps to show verbose/trace level logging.
2. Try to open your vcenter address (IPv4, Hostname, FQDN) from I.E browser using same VMware credentials on machine where you have a problem with VMM Inventory task. No certificate problems, etc and it successfully opens vcenter page?

Thanks,

IP.

[Tomasz Woźniak]

Eventually I opened a support case. Here is the case summary.

ISSUE: VMM Inventory task does not run on ESXi host 
DIAGNOSTIC STEPS: Task execution instance trace. 
CAUSE: Overlapping subnets, causing VMM task to run on task site server, which is not fully configured for VMM & PPA. It's recommended to rum VMM tasks via NS as long as the target is reachable. 
SOLUTION/WORKAROUND: Manually assign "All discovered hypervisors" filter to SMP Task Service. 

So forcing the inventory task to run from NS, where VMM component is installed, finally worked for me.

I hope it helps others.