The vCenter Server Appliance 5.5 fails to start with the console error: "waiting for the embedded database to start up failed"
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The vCenter Server Appliance 5.5 fails to start with the console error: "waiting for the embedded database to start up failed"

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Article ID: 320024

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Updated On:

Products

VMware

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:
  • Warning on the vCenter Server "ldap data backup subcomponent error. join tool operation status: failed
  • The vCenter Server service (vmware-vpxd) fails to start
  • In the vCenter Server Applaince console, you see the error:

    waiting for the embedded database to start up.............. failed
     
  • In the /var/log/vmware/vpx/vpxd.log file, you see entries similar to:

    [VpxdVdb::SetDBType] Logging in to DSN: VMware VirtualCenter with username vc
    [VpxdVdb::SetDBType] Logging in to DSN: VMware VirtualCenter with username vc
    [VpxdVdb::SetDBType] Logging in to DSN: VMware VirtualCenter with username vc
    [VpxdVdb::SetDBType] Logging in to DSN: VMware VirtualCenter with username vc
    [VpxdVdb::SetDBType] Logging in to DSN: VMware VirtualCenter with username vc
    [VpxdVdb::SetDBType] Logging in to DSN: VMware VirtualCenter with username vc
    [VpxdVdb::SetDBType] Failed to connect to database: ODBC error: (08001) - [unixODBC]could not connect to server: Connection refused
    --> Is the server running on host "127.0.0.1" and accepting
    --> . Retry attempt: 193 ...
    --> TCP/IP connections on port 5432?

    Note: This log excerpt is an example. Date, time, and environmental variables may vary depending on your environment.
     
  • Running the command df -h shows the / partition as 100%

    /dev/sda3 9.8G 9.8G 0.0G 100% /
    udev 4.0G 100K 4.0G 1% /dev
    tmpfs 4.0G 0 4.0G 0% /dev/shm
    /dev/sda1 128M 21M 101M 18% /boot
    /dev/sdb1 20G 173M 19G 1% /storage/core
    /dev/sdb2 20G 260M 19G 2% /storage/log
    /dev/sdb3 60G 268M 56G 1% /storage/db
     
  • The file /var/log/ldapmessages is consuming a large amount of space.


Cause

This issue occurs because the /var/log/ldapmessages log file is filling the / partition.

Resolution

To resolve this issue, use one of these options:
 
  • Remove the /var/log/ldapmessages log file.
     
    1. Connect to the vCenter Server Appliance with SSH or a console connection.

      Note: If you are unable to log into the vCenter Server Appliance, see VMware vCenter Server Appliance 5.5 and 6.0 root account locked out after password expiration (2069041).
    2. Navigate to /var/log/ using this command:

      cd /var/log/
    3. Run this command to clear the LDAP logs:

      rm ldapmessages
  • Modify the /etc/hosts file as:

    /etc/hosts
    127.0.0.1 <FQDN> <Hostname>
    #::1 <hostname> localhost ip6-localhost ip6-loopback
    <IP Address> <FQDN> <Hostname>
Note: When modifying the hosts file, if the first line has a "localhost" appended to it, then do not remove it. Doing so will cause certificate errors during lookup service startup.

Additional Information

Unable to log in to the root account of vCenter Server Appliance

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