VCSA6 fails to install - Firstboot error - *DNS is working*

[fdmillion]

Hi all,

I'm having issues installing vCenter Server Appliance 6. I am getting the message "Failed to start services. Firstboot error." on the VCSA's console, and the installer reports that it was unable to contact the server so it only has partial logs.

The exact messages from the VCSA installer is:

Firstboot script execution error.

The supplied System Name vcenter.wh121e.lab. is not valid.

If the supplied system name is a FQDN, then make sure the DNS forward lookup results in at least one valid IP address in the system. If the supplied system name is an IP address, then it should be one of the valid IP address(es) in the system.

Installation Failed

Failed to download vCenter Server support bundle logs.All other logs can be found at

C:\Users\admin\AppData\Local\VMware\CIP\vcsaInstaller\sessions\session_0003\logs

The VCSA log on the install host ends with repeated entries like these:

2016-01-24 23:20:16.891959 CIP Service: [VCSA INFO] Get VM Support Bundle - result:{"type":"result","statusCode":"PROCESS_STATUS","sessionId":"Fesl-tWmr-gHEt-ZWoJ","requestId":"388","requestComponentId":"fileTransfer","requestObjectId":"8088-jT99-8gEX-Xsia","result":"","isFinal":"false","item":["{\"error\":\"vim.fault.FileNotFound\"}"]}
2016-01-24 23:20:18.339171 CIP Service: [VCSA ERROR] Error getting support bundle: {"type":"error","statusCode":"UNKNOWN","message":"boost::filesystem::file_size: The request is not supported: \"C:\\Users\\admin\\AppData\\Local\\VMware\\CIP\\vcsaInstaller\\sessions\\session_0003\\logs\"","isFinal":"true","sessionId":"Fesl-tWmr-gHEt-ZWoJ","requestId":"388","requestComponentId":"fileTransfer","requestObjectId":"8088-jT99-8gEX-Xsia"}
2016-01-24 23:20:18.348857 Progress Page: [USER ERROR] Support bundle failed to create on 0attempts. Error: {"type":"error","statusCode":"UNKNOWN","message":"boost::filesystem::file_size: The request is not supported: \"C:\\Users\\admin\\AppData\\Local\\VMware\\CIP\\vcsaInstaller\\sessions\\session_0003\\logs\"","isFinal":"true","sessionId":"Fesl-tWmr-gHEt-ZWoJ","requestId":"388","requestComponentId":"fileTransfer","requestObjectId":"8088-jT99-8gEX-Xsia"}
2016-01-24 23:20:29.161365 CIP Service: [VCSA INFO] Get VM Support Bundle - result:{"type":"result","statusCode":"PROCESS_STATUS","sessionId":"Fesl-tWmr-gHEt-ZWoJ","requestId":"393","requestComponentId":"fileTransfer","requestObjectId":"8088-jT99-8gEX-Xsia","result":"","isFinal":"false","item":["{\"error\":\"vim.fault.FileNotFound\"}"]}
2016-01-24 23:20:30.572508 CIP Service: [VCSA ERROR] Error getting support bundle: {"type":"error","statusCode":"UNKNOWN","message":"boost::filesystem::file_size: The request is not supported: \"C:\\Users\\admin\\AppData\\Local\\VMware\\CIP\\vcsaInstaller\\sessions\\session_0003\\logs\"","isFinal":"true","sessionId":"Fesl-tWmr-gHEt-ZWoJ","requestId":"393","requestComponentId":"fileTransfer","requestObjectId":"8088-jT99-8gEX-Xsia"}
2016-01-24 23:20:33.092696 Progress Page: [USER ERROR] Support bundle failed to create on 1attempts. Error: {"type":"error","statusCode":"UNKNOWN","message":"boost::filesystem::file_size: The request is not supported: \"C:\\Users\\admin\\AppData\\Local\\VMware\\CIP\\vcsaInstaller\\sessions\\session_0003\\logs\"","isFinal":"true","sessionId":"Fesl-tWmr-gHEt-ZWoJ","requestId":"393","requestComponentId":"fileTransfer","requestObjectId":"8088-jT99-8gEX-Xsia"}
2016-01-24 23:20:43.842706 CIP Service: [VCSA INFO] Get VM Support Bundle - result:{"type":"result","statusCode":"PROCESS_STATUS","sessionId":"Fesl-tWmr-gHEt-ZWoJ","requestId":"397","requestComponentId":"fileTransfer","requestObjectId":"8088-jT99-8gEX-Xsia","result":"","isFinal":"false","item":["{\"error\":\"vim.fault.FileNotFound\"}"]}
2016-01-24 23:20:45.267324 CIP Service: [VCSA ERROR] Error getting support bundle: {"type":"error","statusCode":"UNKNOWN","message":"boost::filesystem::file_size: The request is not supported: \"C:\\Users\\admin\\AppData\\Local\\VMware\\CIP\\vcsaInstaller\\sessions\\session_0003\\logs\"","isFinal":"true","sessionId":"Fesl-tWmr-gHEt-ZWoJ","requestId":"397","requestComponentId":"fileTransfer","requestObjectId":"8088-jT99-8gEX-Xsia"}
2016-01-24 23:20:45.276902 Progress Page: [USER ERROR] Support bundle failed to create on 2attempts. Error: {"type":"error","statusCode":"UNKNOWN","message":"boost::filesystem::file_size: The request is not supported: \"C:\\Users\\admin\\AppData\\Local\\VMware\\CIP\\vcsaInstaller\\sessions\\session_0003\\logs\"","isFinal":"true","sessionId":"Fesl-tWmr-gHEt-ZWoJ","requestId":"397","requestComponentId":"fileTransfer","requestObjectId":"8088-jT99-8gEX-Xsia"}
2016-01-24 23:20:56.058150 CIP Service: [VCSA INFO] Get VM Support Bundle - result:{"type":"result","statusCode":"PROCESS_STATUS","sessionId":"Fesl-tWmr-gHEt-ZWoJ","requestId":"402","requestComponentId":"fileTransfer","requestObjectId":"8088-jT99-8gEX-Xsia","result":"","isFinal":"false","item":["{\"error\":\"vim.fault.FileNotFound\"}"]}
2016-01-24 23:20:57.482830 CIP Service: [VCSA ERROR] Error getting support bundle: {"type":"error","statusCode":"UNKNOWN","message":"boost::filesystem::file_size: The request is not supported: \"C:\\Users\\admin\\AppData\\Local\\VMware\\CIP\\vcsaInstaller\\sessions\\session_0003\\logs\"","isFinal":"true","sessionId":"Fesl-tWmr-gHEt-ZWoJ","requestId":"402","requestComponentId":"fileTransfer","requestObjectId":"8088-jT99-8gEX-Xsia"}
2016-01-24 23:20:57.492342 Progress Page: [USER ERROR] Support bundle failed to create on 3attempts. Error: {"type":"error","statusCode":"UNKNOWN","message":"boost::filesystem::file_size: The request is not supported: \"C:\\Users\\admin\\AppData\\Local\\VMware\\CIP\\vcsaInstaller\\sessions\\session_0003\\logs\"","isFinal":"true","sessionId":"Fesl-tWmr-gHEt-ZWoJ","requestId":"402","requestComponentId":"fileTransfer","requestObjectId":"8088-jT99-8gEX-Xsia"}

Every post I've found on this subject seems to point to DNS being the issue. The problem is, I have functional DNS in my lab environment. The installation computer and the VCSA are both able to resolve all hostnames and can ping each other.

I saw another post where a user had success adding the DNS records manually to the local hosts file, but this did not help for me at all.

I have the following configuration in my lab environment:

172.16.24.0/24 - subnet

172.16.24.1 - router/gateway

172.16.24.2 - DNS server

172.16.24.15 - vCenter server desired IP

172.16.24.16 - ESXi host

I am using the domain "wh121e.lab" for DNS. The vCenter server is expected to appear at "vcenter.wh121e.lab".

I provided "vcenter.wh121e.lab" and also "vcenter.wh121e.lab." as the System Name, and neither worked. I assigned the correct static IP and the correct DNS server, as you can see.

The attached screenshot shows that the installed but failed VCSA appliance is able to resolve the desired name and that it has the correct assigned IP address. It also shows the last few lines of the firstboot log showing the error message.

The only possibility I could fathom for why this is happening is that, for whatever reason, VCSA is considering "lab" to be an invalid TLD. If this is indeed the case, though, this would be really bad news for VMware, as tons of new TLDs are appearing every week it seems, so restricting to a list of predefined TLDs and systematically failing on any other would be a really bad idea.

Any advice? If you need more logs let me know.

Thanks

Message was edited by: Flint Million - Added more details and clarifications

[fdmillion · Accepted solution]

I'm answering my own question - looks like the problem was still indeed a DNS issue, but a more obscure one.

Perusing the logs on the failed vCenter appliance revealed that the VCSA uses the "dig" command to perform the check of the DNS name. While "nslookup" was working, "dig" was failing due to the DNS server I was using (an older Windows-based DNS). I configured and installed a Linux-based PowerDNS server and now everything seems to be OK.

For the benefit of everyone else - Make sure your DNS server supports "EDNS". To actually properly test if your DNS environment is working, do not reply on nslookup but instead use "dig" as follows:

dig +short your.servers.dns.name

If everything is working correctly you should get a single line response with the IP of your server. If you get a blank line, something is wrong. You can leave off the "+short" to see all the details; if you get a SERVFAIL of type "FORMERR" then your DNS server is most likely out of date and doesn't support EDNS. If you do "dig +noedns your.servers.dns.name" and it does work, then that confirms that the issue is that you need a more modern DNS server.

Hope this helps others!

[Cuore_Sportivo]

Hello,

I'd like to install vCenter for some quick tests, but I'm having the exact same issue. DNS (running on a MikroTik router which also acts as the gateway) is working fine, according to both "nslookup" and "dig" commands. I found in a similar thread some ideas, like disabling IPv6, but still, I can only successfully install vCenter by filling the FQDN box with the IP and not the domain.