"VMware VirtualCenter failed firstboot" when installing vCenter Server 6.x

Products

VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

This article provides information on disabling size restrictions/SQL database size limit .

Symptoms:

Installing vCenter Server 6.x fails on a size restricted SQL database
The Microsoft SQL database is size restricted.
The installation fails with the error:

"VMware VirtualCenter failed firstboot.
An error occurred while starting service 'vpxd'
Please refer to vSphere documentation to troubleshoot or Please contact VMware Support."
In the %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\VMWare\vCenterServer\logs\vmware-vpx\vpxd.log file, there are entries similar to:

2016-11-17T14:41:09.200-05:00 error vpxd[06440] [Originator@6876 sub=Default] [VdbStatement::ResultValue:GetValue] Error to get value at pos: 6, ctype: -27 for SQL "SELECT File_Type, Drive, VCDB_Space_Mb, Physical_Name, Sql_Server_Edition, Sql_Server_Version, CASE WHEN CHARINDEX('Express Edition',CAST (Sql_Server_Edition as varchar)) >0 THEN (SELECT MIN(n) FROM (VALUES (10240 - VCDB_Space_Mb), (FreeSpaceInMB (DB_limit - VCDB_Space_Mb)) AS i(n) ) ELSE (SELECT MIN(n) FROM (VALUES (FreeSpaceInMB), (DB_limit - VCDB_Space_Mb)) AS i(n) ) END AS FreeSpaceInMB, CASE WHEN CHARINDEX('Express Edition',CAST (Sql_Server_Edition as varchar)) >0 THEN (SELECT MIN(n) FROM (VALUES (10240), (TotalSpaceInMB), (DB_limit)) AS i(n) ) ELSE (SELECT MIN(n) FROM (VALUES (TotalSpaceInMB), (DB_limit)) AS i(n) ) END AS TotalSpaceInMB FROM (SELECT DB_NAME(os.database_id) DBName, CASE mf.FILE_ID WHEN 1 THEN 'DATA' WHEN 2 THEN 'LOG' END File_Type, os.volume_mount_point AS Drive, CONVERT(INT, (mf.SIZE * 8) / 1024.0 ) AS VCDB_Space_Mb, mf.PHYSICAL_NAME Physical_Name, SERVERPROPERTY('edition') Sql_Server_Edition, SERVERPROPERTY('productversion') Sql_Server_Version, CONVERT(INT,((os.available_bytes)/1024.0)/1024.0) AS FreeSpaceInMB, CONVERT(INT,((os.total_bytes)/1024.0)/1024.0) AS TotalSpaceInMB, CASE WHEN mf.growth = 0 THEN CONVERT(INT, (mf.SIZE * 8) / 1024.0 ) ELSE CASE WHEN mf.max_SIZE not in (0,-1, 268435456) THEN CONVERT(INT, ((mf.max_SIZE * 8) / 1024.0)/1024.0 ) ELSE CONVERT(INT,((os.total_bytes)/1024.0)/1024.0) END END AS DB_limit FROM sys.master_files mf CROSS APPLY sys.dm_os_volume_stats(mf.database_id, mf.FILE_ID) os where os.DATABASE_ID = DB_ID() ) as realdata"
2016-11-17T14:41:09.201-05:00 warning vpxd[06440] [Originator@6876 sub=OsLayer_win32] [VpxUnhandledException] Win32 Exception (3765269347) detected at 00007ffae4268a5c

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 6.0.x
VMware vCenter Server 6.5.x

Cause

During the installation of the vCenter Server a check is performed for the available space on the database. An error in logic of calculating free space results negative values. This further triggers a failure in vpxd on reading the negative value.

Resolution

To resolve the VMware VirtualCenter failed firstboot issue, remove the limit on the database files by setting the Maximum File Size to Unrestricted File Growth.

Connect to database server using SQL Management Studio.
Right-click the vCenter Server database and click Properties.
In the Database Properties window, click Files.
Click the expand button in the Autogrowth column.
Set Maximum File Size to Unrestricted File Growth.
Repeat this step for the remaining database files.

Note: For log files the Unlimited option will return to Restricted and the size limit will be 2,097,152 (2TB). This is expected as log files are limited to 2TB on SQL Servers.

Additional Information

在大小受限的 SQL 数据库上安装 vCenter Server 6.5 失败
サイズが制限されている SQL データベースで vCenter Server 6.5 のインストールが失敗する