Troubleshooting vSphere Replication plugin missing from vCenter Server

Last week I upgraded my VR appliance from 6.1.1 to 6.1.2 and registered VR to vCenter and to my surprise VR plugin was missing after I reloaded my vSphere Web Client. I tried logoff and login to Web Client a couple of times, but luck was not with my side. 

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While configuring VR, I saw a succesful configuration message, So easily I can rule out issues with VR > VC registration. 

vrplugin-2.PNG

I even restarted Web Client service followed by bouncing vCenter server node but VR has decided to give up on me that day and still the plugin was missing from Web Client. This was a bit strange for me as I have deployed VR in my lab 3-4 times and never encountered this issue.

On googling the issue, I came across VMware KB-2149560 which clearly mentions that this is a known issue with VR 6.1.2. The KB has all the steps listed in order to fix the issue. 

These are the steps which I followed to fix the issue

1: Removed old ngcplugin-60.zip file from VR appliance

a: SSH to VR appliance and navigate to directory /opt/vmware/share/htdocs/client and delete or move ngcplugin-60.zip to alternate location

b: Download 2149560_SSO_ngcplugin-60.zip file from Attachments sections of KB-2149560 and upload the downloaded file to VR appliance in directory /opt/vmware/share/htdocs/client and rename the uploaded file to ngcplugin-60.zip

2: SSH to vCenter server appliance and navigate to directory /etc/vmware/vsphere-client/vc-packages/vsphere-client-serenity and remove the com.vmware.vcHms-6.1.2.605082273 plugin folder or any other vcHMS file

3: Stop vsphere Web Client service

4: Clean the tomcat cache by navigating to directory /usr/lib/vmware-vsphere-client/server/work and deleting everything from this directory

5: Clear the serenity database  by navigating to directory /storage/vsphere-client/SerenityDB/serenity and deleting everything from this directory

6: Remove/rename the old hmsJARs from directory /usr/lib/vmware-virgo/server/pickup/

Following files needs to be removed/renamed:

7: Remove the contents of the cmCatalog directory:

8: Start vSphere Web Client service

And that’s it. I was able to see the VR plugin now after following above steps.

I hope you find this post informational. Feel free to share this on social media if it is worth sharing. Be sociable 🙂

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