After upgrading my vCenter 5.0 server to 5.0 update 1, I noticed that the vCenter Service Status page reported a wide number of errors regarding the License Services and Storage Monitoring. There are lots of failures to obtain information and for services to initialize.

Lots of errors after upgrading to vCenter 5 update 1

The system appeared to be working fine, as in fact I didn’t even notice it until reading this VMTN forum thread. So, what gives?

vCenter Related Services

I checked on the accounts for all my vCenter related services, which I set at time of install of vCenter 5 (fresh install). I originally set a number of them to use the vCenter domain service account (svc_vcenter) which has database access, as I know that vSphere Update Manager (VUM) certainly doesn’t seem to work without changing the log on account to an account that has access to the DB.

However, I noticed that Management Webservices was set to Local System. I don’t recall if I changed that over prior to the upgrade, but it is certainly set incorrectly now. Nothing was broken prior to the upgrade to 5.0 update 1, so I’m a bit suspicious. There’s two possibilities:

• Local System works on a fresh install of vCenter 5.0, or
• The upgrade to 5.0 update 1 resets the account to Local System (verified by Matt Lattanzio in a comment at the bottom)

I sort of doubt the first option. The requirement to not use the Local System account is highlighted clearly in this KB article (2003790) to change the log on account to the same user that is listed in the database DSN entry.

For SQL Server DSNs configured with Windows authentication, use the same user account for the VMware VirtualCenter Management Webservices service and the DSN user.

Fixing the Service

The fix is rather easy – change the log on account to the domain account listed in the DSN.

Here is the Log On details for the VMware VirtualCenter Management Webservices:

A simple change to the DSN user (my service account):

Stop and start the service for the change to take hold. It shouldn’t impact any of the virtual machines.

Here are the resulting green lights in the vCenter Service Status page:

Thoughts

Realistically, I should have checked the vCenter Service Status page immediately after upgrading, but I typically don’t make that a habit unless features are not functioning properly (bad habit). I’m a little less proactive in my home lab, I suppose.

Have any of you encountered this issue yet, or noticed that it changes the service account during the upgrade process (or am I just crazy)? 🙂