VMware vCenter
Support Assistant 5.1.1
VMware vCenter Support Assistant 5.1.1.GA | September 25, 2013 | GA Last updated: September 24, 2013
Check for additions and updates to these release notes.
RELEASE NOTES
What’s in the Release Notes
The release notes cover the following topics:
• Bug fixes for 5.1.1 GA release
• What’s New
• System Requirements
• Installing, Upgrading, Uninstalling
• Known Issues
Bug fixes for 5.1.1 GA release
• Escalated SR's allowed to upload log attachments when selected on the listing page
• Support Assistant Correspondence updates ordered chronologically
• Fix for SR sub status not changing when customer provides an comment update in Support Assistant. Now sub status is set to “Inbound message received”.
• Updated SSL certificate on the Support Assistant virtual appliance
• Minor fixes done with diagnostics check and error handling
What's New
• Improved Proxy server handling
• The files, either support bundles or attachments, are being uploaded directly to VMware. The default protocol, which is used is FTP. In case the FTP upload is not possible the system will automatically fall back to HTTP. Using FTP is the recommended protocol as it is more reliable protocol.
• Support Assistant virtual appliance operating system updated with the latest security patches
• The Support Assistant plugin registration facility is modified to manage plugin register/un-register in a single management facility. Now the user needs to authenticate to do any plugin reigster/un- register tasks. The new functionality also lists the currently registered vCenter Servers to a plugin.
Multiple vCenter Server plugin register/un-register is possible where the credentials are same.
System Requirements
• vCPUs: 2
• vRAM: 2GB
• Disk space: 1.3GB for thin provisioning; 155GB for thick provisioning vCenter Support Assistant is installed as a virtual appliance.
To use Support Assistant, vCenter Server 4.1 or later is required.
In addition to filing Support Requests, Support Assistant can generate log support bundles from vSphere (ESX/ESXi) 4.1 or later, and vCenter Server 4.1 or later.
If you have older versions of vSphere installed (eg ESX 3.0), Support Assistant won’t be able to generate and upload log support bundles from those hosts; but Support Assistant can of course still be used to file Support Requests for those products, if support entitlement exists.
If you would like to use the vSphere Web Client to access Support Assistant, vCenter Server 5.1 or later must be installed.
Installing, Upgrading, Uninstalling
Installing
Support Assistant is packaged as a virtual appliance (VA) that is available in both OVF and OVA formats.
To deploy the VA:
• Access the File Menu in vSphere Client and select Deploy OVF template
• Browse to the location on your computer where the unzipped OVF dump is and select OVF template ending with .ovf
• Confirm OVF details
• Select the Data center and then the host/cluster where this OVF is going to be deployed
• On the “disk format” screen, select either the “Thin Provision” or “Thick Provision” option.
If unsure, select “Thin Provision”
• Click “Finish” to start deployment of the VA
Once the VA is deployed successfully, it will show as a VM with the name provided during deployment.
For more information on VA deployment, please see: http://www.vmware.com/technical- resources/virtualization-topics/virtual-appliances/ovf
Power on the Support Assistant VA, accept the EULA and enter a password for your root account.
You will be then presented with a network configuration tool though which you can configure Static IP or DHCP, gateway, DNS and proxy server settings. When this is completed, the console window will display a URL. Navigate to this URL using a web browser.
The page shown will guide you through the process of setting up Support Assistant - for example, further information on how to set network connectivity correctly, and how to register Support Assistant with each vCenter Server you wish to use the application from.
Upgrading
1. Remove the existing Support Assistant VM
• Using the vSphere Client or vSphere Web Client, login to any vCenter Server to which the existing Support Assistant virtual appliance has been registered
• Power off the Support Assistant VM in the inventory
• Right-click the Support Assistant VM and select “Delete from disk” from the pop-up menu (in vSphere Web Client it will be under “All vCenter Actions”)
• Click OK to confirm 2. Deploy the new VM
• Follow the instructions above under “Installing” to deploy the new VM
3. Re-register Support Assistant in each vCenter Server you wish to continue accessing the application from
• The new Support Assistant VM, once deployed, will display the URL for its management page in the console. Navigate to this URL using a web browser
• Login to the registration management facility using the user as root and the password which you set during first boot on the virtual appliance console.
• Once logged in successfully, currently registered vCenter Servers are listed on the left and on the right you can register new vCenter Servers to this virtual appliance
• When you access this the first time, it will not show any currently registered vCenter Servers even though you might have registered the older instance of Support Assistant 5.1.0 in the past
• Enter the vCenter Server's IP or FQDN and click on “+ Add”. This will just add the vCenter Server to the list of vCenter(s) that are going to be registered
• Using the red cross against the vCenter Server, you can remove a vCenter Server from the list if needed from not being registered
• Click “Register Plugin” button which will popup a dialog to enter the user name and password for the vCetner Server(s) that are being registered. If multiple vCenter Servers are being registered, the user name and password should be the same for all of them
• Once the valid credentials are entered for user name and password, press “Register plugin”
which will register the Support Assistant plugin to the vCenter Server(s)
• Successfully registered vCenter Server(s) will be listed on the left side
4. If you wish to stop using Support Assistant in one or more vCenter Servers, you will need to unregister those vCenter Servers:
• Login to the registration management facility using the root user with the relevant password.
• Currently registered vCenter Server(s) are listed on the left side
• There is a check box against each vCenter Server
• Check the vCenter Server(s) which needs to be unregistered
• Click on “Unregister plugin” button which will popup a dialog requesting user name and password
• Enter the valid user name and password for the vCenter Server. If unregistering from multiple vCenter Server(s) at the same time, all the selected vCenter Server(s) should have the same username and password for authentication and removal of the registered plugin from them. For vCenter Server(s) with different authentication, each vCenter Server should be unregistered one at a time with the proper user name and password as appropriate.
• Click on “Unregister plugin” button in the dialog which will unregister the plugin from the vCenter Server(s)
• Successfully unregistered vCenter Server(s) will be removed from the left side where currently registered vCenter Server(s) are listed
Uninstalling
1. First, unregister the Support Assistant plugin with each vCenter Server that it is currently registered with
• Login to the registration management facility using the root user with the relevant password.
• Currently registered vCenter Server(s) are listed on the left side
• There is a check box against each vCenter Server
• Check the vCenter Server(s) which needs to be unregistered
• Click on “Unregister plugin” button which will popup a dialog requesting user name and password
• Enter the valid user name and password for the vCenter Server. If unregistering from multiple vCenter Server(s) at the same time, all the selected vCenter Server(s) should have the same user name and password for authentication and removal of the registered plugin from them. For vCenter Server(s) with different authentication, each vCenter Server should be unregistered one at a time with the proper user name and password as appropriate.
• Click on “Unregister plugin” button in the dialog which will unregister the plugin from the vCenter Server(s)
• Successfully unregistered vCenter Server(s) will be removed from the left side where currently registered vCenter Server(s) are listed
2. Next, remove the Support Assistant VM
• Using the vSphere Client or vSphere Web Client, login to any vCenter Server to which the existing Support Assistant virtual appliance has been registered
• Power off the Support Assistant VM in the inventory
•Right-click the Support Assistant VM and select “Delete from disk” from the pop-up menu (in vSphere Web Client it will be under “All vCenter Actions”)
• Click OK to confirm
Known Issues
The known issues are grouped as follows.
• Installation Issues
• Networking Issues
• File upload Issues Installation Issues
• Unable to access vCenter Support Assistant in the vSphere Web Client
Some additional configuration is required in order to access vCenter Support Assistant with the VMware vSphere Web Client. Please note that use of the vSphere Web Client requires VMware vCenter 5.1.
Note: These instructions only apply if you wish to use the vSphere Web Client to access Support Assistant. You do not need to do this if you wish to use the vSphere Client (Windows-based dedicated program).
1 Based on the OS that the vSphere Web Client is running on, navigate to the appropriate directory:
• Windows 7 or Windows 2k8 server: C:\ProgramData\VMware\vSphere Web Client\
• Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\VMware\vSphere Web Client
• Mac OS-X and Linux: /var/lib/vmware/vsphere-client
2 If the directory already contains a file named "webclient.properties", open it. Otherwise, create it.
3 In the file, please add the following line:
scriptPlugin.enabled=true 4 Restart the vSphere Web Client server
5 Login to vSphere Web Client. See that vCenter Support Assistant is visible in the "Home" tab (vCenter Support Assistant should have a shortcut in the Home page under the Legacy category). vCenter Support Assistant plugin has been converted internally into a "plugin package" that is compatible with vSphere Web Client.
6 Locate the directory that was generated for vCenter Support Assistant:
• on Windows it is %ProgramData%\VMware\vSphere Web Client\script-plugin- packages\com.vmware.vim.viClientScripts\com.vmware.supportassistant-5.1.1
• on Linux/MAC it is /var/lib/vmware/vsphere-client/script-plugin- packages/com.vmware.vim.viClientScripts/com.vmware.supportassistant-5.1.1 where com.vmware.supportassistant-5.1.1 is the directory name which combines the registration key and version.
It should contain a file plugin-package.xml and a sub-directory plugins.
7 Open plugin-package.xml with a text editor and check the first line. If the plugin package's name attribute is empty, copy the id value which is com.vmware.supportassistant-5.1.1 as the
value of name and save the file.
8 Copy the whole directory com.vmware.supportassistant-5.1.1 into VWC/plugin-packages, where VWC is the location of your vSphere Web Client setup:
• on Windows usually it is C:\Program
Files\VMware\Infrastructure\vSphereWebClient\plugin-packages
• on Linux/MAC it is /usr/lib/vmware-vsphere-client/plugin-packages So now, under the VWC/plugin-packages directory, you should see your
com.vmware.supportassistant-5.1.1 directory and all the other vSphere Web Client internal packages.
9 Turn off script plugin support in the webclient.properties file (comment out the scriptPlugin.enabled line) and restart the vSphere Web Client server.
10 Login to vSphere Web Client, all the plugins with vCenter Support Assistant should be visible!
Un-install vCenter Support Assistant plugin from vSphere Web Client
1 To un-install vCenter Support Assistant you can delete the directory VWC/plugin-
packages/com.vmware.supportassistant-5.1.1 on the vSphere Web Client server. Please refer to VWC(vSphere Web Client setup) directory above in Step 8.
2 Remove the line scriptPlugin.enabled=true from webclient.properties and restart the vSphere Web Client service.
Once the above is completed. Access the support assistant virtual appliance in a web browser and import the SSL certificate into the browser. Please follow the steps to import certificate into a browser which is provided in the FAQ under the question “How do I import SSL certificates to avoid repetitive security popup notifications?”.
Once the certificates are imported, access the vSphere Web Client in your browser and access support assistant through it.
Networking Issues
• Unable to upload logs after initiating log attachment for a Support Request
Although you can select the hosts and manifests that you want to generate and attach log support bundles from, vCenter Support Assistant fails to successfully complete the upload of the log support bundle.
Workaround: Perform these basic troubleshooting steps.
1. In vCenter Support Assistant, click the Diagnostics link to run the Diagnostic tool
2. If any of the diagnostic tests fail, click the View help link for the test which failed and view the description of the error
3. Resolve the error
4. Click the Diagnostics link in the vCenter Support Assistant application to rerun the Diagnostic tool and verify that all errors have been resolved
Resolving some issues may require setting correct proxy server or DNS settings for the Support Assistant virtual appliance. To change settings, perform these steps:
5. Run the configure-network command available through the console of the vCenter Support Assistant virtual machine.
6. Use the menu options for this command to configure correct proxy server and DNS settings.
7. Click the Diagnostics link in the vCenter Support Assistant application to rerun the Diagnostic tool
and verify that all errors have been resolved.
• Using either the vSphere Client or vSphere Web Client, logging into a vCenter Server using only the hostname of the vCenter Server results in an “Error loading hosts” message
vCenter Support Assistant requires that you log into a vCenter Server using its Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) or IP address. Using an unqualified form of the vCenter Server machine name (eg., just the vCenter Server hostname) with either the vSphere Client or vSphere Web Client will result in the “Select hosts” screen displaying the “Error loading hosts” error message.
Log out of the vSphere Client or vSphere Web Client and log back in using the vCenter Server’s Fully Qualified Domain Name(FQDN) or the IP address. Logging in using this method ensures proper retrieval of the list of hosts from which the logs need to be attached and uploaded.
File upload Issues
When you try to attach a file from your local system to the Support Request through vSphere Web Client, you might receive an error #2038
When you try to attach a file from your local system to the Support Request, and your vSphere Web Client is loaded in Mozilla Firefox, you might receive an error message #2038 , and you are forced to reload the application which prevents you from attaching the file. The upload functionality does not work with any browser (Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer) with Adobe Flash player plug-in of version 11.2.xxx.xxx.
Workaround: Log in to the vSphere Web Client (both on Linux or Microsoft Windows) by using Chrome or Internet Explorer with the latest Adobe Flash player plug-in installed (11.7.xxx.xxx). The latest Adobe Flash player plug-in version which the upload functionality officially supports is version 11.7.700.255.
When you try to attach a file from your local system to the Support Request through the vSphere Web Client, file upload does not start in Firefox
Workaround: Access the vSphere Web Client in Chrome or Internet Explorer.
When you attach logs, you see "An unknown error occurred" with failure code 99 along with
“UnknownHostException: somehost" during log collection step.
When you try to attach logs, an error message shows up on the progress popup as "An unknown error occurred" with failure code 99 along with “UnknownHostException: somehost”. The progress popup waits for you to cancel the collection process. This is happening because a host in the collection is not responding.
Workaround: Cancel the log collection. Start a new log collection by clicking “Attach logs” and make sure that the specific host which showed up as the unknown host is not part of the collection.
This will allow you to attach logs for hosts which will allow proper log collection to complete and upload the logs.
Attaching large files from local file system to be uploaded does not complete and shows the error message as “An error uploading files occurred. Please check the connectivity between your machine and the Support Assistant virtual appliance.”
When attaching large files from the local files system, the above error shows on the screen.
Workaround: This is because the Java Virtual Machine of the Appliance does not have enough free memory. In order to upload a big amount of data successfully the files need to be split in smaller pieces with a maximum size of around 200MB. If the problem persists and the upload is still not successful the Support Assistant Virtual Appliance needs to be restarted.
RELEASE NOTES / 9 VMware, Inc. 3401 Hillview Avenue Palo Alto CA 94304 USA Tel 877-486-9273 Fax 650-427-5001 www.vmware.com
Copyright © 2013 VMware, Inc. All rights reserved. This product is protected by U.S. and international copyright and intellectual property laws. VMware products are covered by one or more patents listed at http://www.vmware.com/go/patents. VMware is a registered trademark or trademark of VMware, Inc. in the United States and/or other jurisdictions. All other marks and names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective companies. Item No: VMW-TECH-WP- vCENTER-SUPPORT-ASSISTANT-5_1-RELEASE-NOTES-USLET-105 01/13
