"An error occurred while invoking external command: '%(0)s'" when deploying vCenter Server Appliance 6.5
search cancel

"An error occurred while invoking external command: '%(0)s'" when deploying vCenter Server Appliance 6.5

book

Article ID: 328168

calendar_today

Updated On:

Products

VMware

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:
  • Stage 2 deployment of a vCenter Server Appliance 6.5 fails at 5% when attempting to start the vmware-stsd service.
  • No FQDN was supplied during Stage 1 of the install, resulting in a hostname of localhost.localdom.

    Stderr = Job for vmware-stsd.service failed because a timeout was exceeded. See "systemctl status vmware-stsd.service" and "journalctl -xe" for details.
     
  • Running the commands systemctl status vmware-stsd.service and journalctl -xe on the vCenter Server Appliance report this error:

    Nov 17 21:12:13 localhost.localdom systemd[1]: vmware-stsd.service: Failed with result 'timeout'
     
  • The following error is displayed in the GUI of the installer:

    Job for vmware-stsd.service failed because a timeout was exceeded


Cause

This issue occurs due to a failure when attempting to resolve the hostname through IPv6 with no FQDN entered. When this step fails the installer fails attempting to fall back to IPv4 due to a timeout for the completion of the step.

Resolution

This issue is resolved in vCenter Server Appliance 6.5 b, available at VMware Downloads.


Workaround:
To workaround this issue if you do not want to upgrade, use one of these options:
  • Install with an FQDN which is resolvable through DNS.
  • Manually add localhost.localdom localhost to the /etc/hosts file on the Source vCenter Server Appliance. After deploying (Stage 1) the vCenter Server Appliance, open a console to the Appliance virtual machine.
     
    1. Press Alt+F1 and log in with root credentials.
    2. Run this command to enable SSH:

      ssh.set --enabled true
       
    3. Run this command to verify SSH is enabled:

      ssh.get

      For example:

      ssh.get
      Enabled: True
       
    4. Connect to the vCenter Server Appliance with an SSH session and root credentials.
    5. In the etc/hosts file, add ::1 localhost.localdom localhost above #VAMI_EDIT_END.
    6. Continue with Stage 2 of the deployment.


Additional Information

For more information, see:

Powered by Wolken Software