Part VI vCloud Director

Upgrade and Patching Best Practices

Regular upgrades keep the environment secure and compatible with vSphere and NSX.

🔹 Pre-Upgrade Checklist

1. ✅ Verify compatibility matrix (vCD ↔ vCenter ↔ NSX ↔ VCF).

   
   
   
   

2. ✅ Backup DB and config.

   
   
   
   

3. ✅ Pause tenant tasks and notify customers.

   
   
   
   

4. ✅ Snapshot vCD Cell VMs.

   
   
   
   

5. ✅ Check free space (/opt and /tmp ≥ 5 GB).

   
   
   
   

🔹 Upgrade Process

Stop vCD Service systemctl stop vcloud-director

1. 
   

Install New Package rpm -Uvh vmware-vcloud-director-10.x.y.rpm

2. 
   

Run DB Upgrade /opt/vmware/vcloud-director/bin/upgrade

3. 
   

Start Services systemctl start vcloud-director

4. 
   

5. Upgrade Other Cells (Sequentially)

   
   
   
   

6. Validate – Login → System > About → confirm version.

   
   
   
   

🔹 Post-Upgrade Checks

●       Review /opt/vmware/vcloud-director/logs/cell.log for errors.

●       Verify tenant UI and API access.

●       Test VM provisioning and network creation.

●       Confirm catalog replication and AMQP status.

🔹 Rolling Upgrade (Zero Downtime)

In multi-cell clusters:

1. Remove one cell from LB rotation.

   
   
   
   

2. Upgrade that cell and validate.

   
   
   
   

3. Re-add it → upgrade next cell.

   
   
   
   

4. No tenant outage when LB configured correctly.

   
   
   
   

🔹 vCD Tools for Maintenance

Command	Purpose
cell-management-tool list-cells	View registered cells.
cell-management-tool cell --disable	Safely remove a cell for maintenance.
cell-management-tool reclaim	Clean orphaned tasks.
cell-management-tool list-services	Monitor internal service status.

7️⃣ Monitoring and Health Validation

Use vRealize Operations (Aria Operations) and Log Insight for end-to-end observability.

Area	Tool	Key Metric
vCD Cells	vROps Adapter	CPU usage, threads, API latency
DB	vROps / Grafana	Query performance, replication lag
NSX-T	vROps NSX Pack	Edge health, BGP status
Logs	vRLI / Syslog	Error tracing and security audit
Tenants	vROps Tenant App	Usage and capacity chargeback

8️⃣ Security Hardening Checklist

Area	Recommendation
Access	Use SSO + MFA; disable default sysadmin when possible.
Certificates	Use CA-signed TLS certs (renew annually).
Network	Place vCD Cells behind firewall/LB; block direct DB access.
Updates	Patch OS monthly and upgrade vCD every 2 releases max.
Backup	Encrypt database and NFS backups.
Audit	Enable event export to SIEM (Log Insight / Splunk).

✅ In Summary

Category	Key Practice
Installation	Use external PostgreSQL + shared transfer storage.
HA Design	≥3 Cells + DB replication + AMQP cluster + LB.
Certificates	Manage API + Console Proxy with CA-signed SSL.
LDAP/AD	Enable LDAPS + group-role mapping + SSO.
Backup/DR	Automate DB and catalog backups daily.
Upgrade	Follow rolling upgrade method with validation.
Monitoring	Integrate vROps and Log Insight for visibility.
Security	Harden access controls and encrypt everything.

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🧩 Part 8: Troubleshooting and Monitoring in VMware vCloud Director

1️⃣ Overview

Even the best-designed vCloud Director clouds occasionally face operational issues — from cell service failures and API latency to NSX communication problems.

Effective troubleshooting in vCD means understanding:

●       Where logs live

●       How vCD communicates with NSX and vCenter

●       How to isolate whether the issue is in infrastructure, API, or tenant operations

2️⃣ Log Analysis

vCD maintains multiple log files that record cell, API, and database events.

🔹 Primary Log Locations

Log File	Path	Description
cell.log	/opt/vmware/vcloud-director/logs/cell.log	Core service startup, runtime, DB queries, and errors.
vcloud-container-debug.log	/opt/vmware/vcloud-director/logs/vcloud-container-debug.log	Detailed provisioning, VM creation, and workflow traces.
vcloud-vmware-vimserver.log	/opt/vmware/vcloud-director/logs/vcloud-vmware-vimserver.log	vCenter communication, API tasks, inventory sync.
vcloud-network.log	/opt/vmware/vcloud-director/logs/vcloud-network.log	NSX-T / NSX-V API calls and network events.
vcloud-database.log	/opt/vmware/vcloud-director/logs/vcloud-database.log	SQL statements and DB connectivity.
console-proxy.log	/opt/vmware/vcloud-director/logs/console-proxy.log	HTML5 console connection issues.

🔹 Log Rotation & Retention

Default rotation is daily with 10 files retained. You can adjust in /opt/vmware/vcloud-director/etc/log4j2.properties.

🔹 Useful Log Search Commands

# Check for DB connection errors

grep "SQLException" cell.log

# Search NSX API failures

grep "network" vcloud-network.log | grep "error"

# Find vCenter task errors

grep "vim.Task" vcloud-vmware-vimserver.log | grep "FAILED"

# Filter API requests

grep "POST /api" vcloud-container-debug.log

3️⃣ Common vCloud Director Issues and Fixes

⚠️ 1. vCD Cell Not Starting

Symptoms: systemctl start vcloud-director fails.

Check:

journalctl -xe | grep vcloud

grep "Exception" cell.log

Root Causes & Fixes:

●       Wrong DB password → Re-run configuration.

●       DB down → Verify PostgreSQL connectivity.

●       Certificates expired → Update keystore and restart service.

●       Storage (NFS transfer) unreachable → Mount it before starting.

⚠️ 2. vCD ↔ vCenter Connection Errors

Symptoms:

●       Tasks stuck in Queued.

●       “Unable to connect to vSphere resource.”

Check: vcloud-vmware-vimserver.log

Fix:

●       Validate vCenter credentials.

●       Check Managed Object ID (MOID) mismatches after vCenter restore.

●       If SSL mismatch → re-register vCenter:

cell-management-tool vcenter -reregister --vc <vcenter-fqdn>

⚠️ 3. NSX Sync or Network Creation Failures

Symptoms: Org network or Edge creation fails with “Network backing not found.”

Check: vcloud-network.log

Fix Steps:

Verify NSX-T Manager connectivity: curl -k -u admin:VMware1! https://nsxmgr/api/v1/cluster/status

1. 
   

Re-synchronize NSX configuration: cell-management-tool manage-config --update

2. 
   

3. If orphaned Tier-1 routers remain, clean via NSX Manager UI.

   
   
   
   

⚠️ 4. Slow Portal or API Response

Possible Causes:

●       DB latency

●       Overloaded RabbitMQ or message backlog

●       Too many concurrent API sessions

Check:

●       DB performance metrics (pg_stat_activity)

●       /opt/vmware/vcloud-director/logs/cell.log for “Slow query” entries

●       RabbitMQ queue depth (rabbitmqctl list_queues)

Mitigation:

●       Scale out cells.

●       Tune JVM heap (/opt/vmware/vcloud-director/etc/global.properties).

●       Enable caching (enable.catalog.cache=true).

⚠️ 5. Catalog or Template Upload Failures

Check: vcloud-container-debug.log → look for TransferService errors.

Fix:

●       Ensure NFS/S3 transfer storage is reachable and writeable.

Restart only the Transfer service: cell-management-tool cell --restart --name <cell_name>

●      

⚠️ 6. Stuck or Failed Tasks

●       Check in System > Administration > Tasks or API /api/tasks.

●       Cancel or clean orphaned tasks:

cell-management-tool cleanup --tasks

For database inconsistencies, use: cell-management-tool database --validate

●      

4️⃣ NSX / vCenter Synchronization Errors

🔹 Understanding Sync Architecture

●       vCD polls vCenter and NSX periodically to update inventories.

●       Failures cause “Resource not found” or “Object in invalid state” errors.

🔹 vCenter Sync Repair

Check registered vCenter list: cell-management-tool vcenter --list

1. 
   

Re-register or refresh inventory: cell-management-tool vcenter --refresh <vcenter-fqdn>

2. 
   

Remove stale references if a cluster/host was removed: cell-management-tool vcenter --cleanup

3. 
   

🔹 NSX Sync Repair

Verify NSX connection: cell-management-tool nsx --list

1. 
   

Refresh connection: cell-management-tool nsx --refresh <nsx-mgr-fqdn>

2. 
   

Clear cached entries: cell-management-tool nsx --cleanup

3. 
   

🔹 Common Sync Errors

Error	Root Cause	Fix
Backing network not found	NSX segment deleted manually	Recreate or update Org Network mapping
Edge Gateway missing	NSX-T Tier-1 deleted	Re-deploy Edge Gateway from vCD
Datastore inaccessible	Cluster rescan pending in vCenter	Refresh storage or restart vSphere Agent

5️⃣ Performance Debugging

🔹 Database Performance

Enable PostgreSQL slow query log: /var/lib/pgsql/data/postgresql.conf log_min_duration_statement = 5000

●      

Index cleanup: vacuumdb --analyze vcloud

●      

🔹 Cell Performance

Check CPU/memory with:

top -p $(pgrep -f vcloud)

Monitor vCD services:

cell-management-tool list-services

If you see “hung” threads, restart only impacted service (no reboot required).

🔹 Network Performance

●       Ping NSX edges to confirm reachability.

●       Validate MTU 1600+ for Geneve/VXLAN.

Run: esxcli network diag ping -s 1600 -d -I vmk0 <Edge-IP>

●      

🔹 API Performance Metrics

Use vCD built-in API statistics endpoint:

GET /api/admin/extension/settings/general

Review:

●       Average response times

●       Active session count

●       API queue length

If latency > 3 s average → scale additional cells.

6️⃣ Support & Diagnostic Tools

🔹 cell-management-tool

The Swiss-army knife for maintenance and repair.

Command	Purpose
cell-management-tool list-cells	Lists all registered cells.
cell-management-tool cell --disable	Gracefully remove cell from service.
cell-management-tool certificates	Manage SSL keys.
cell-management-tool cleanup	Clean up tasks, networks, etc.
cell-management-tool manage-config	Update system configuration.

Example:

cell-management-tool list-cells

cell-management-tool cell --disable --name vcd-cell-2

🔹 Support Bundles

Collect full diagnostics for VMware Support:

cell-management-tool diagnostics --output /tmp/vcd-support-bundle.zip

Includes:

●       All logs

●       System info

●       Configuration XML

🔹 vCloud API Tracing

Enable verbose API tracing in global.properties:

api.trace.enabled=true

api.trace.directory=/opt/vmware/vcloud-director/logs/api-trace/

Generates per-request API logs — very useful for debugging Terraform or vRA integration.

🔹 Network Tools

●       vcd-cli (Python) for quick API queries.

●       curl or Postman for API testing.

●       tcpdump for inspecting API/AMQP traffic.

7️⃣ Integration with Monitoring Systems

🔹 vRealize Operations (Aria Operations)

●       vCD Management Pack collects:

○       Tenant resource usage

○       OrgVDC performance metrics

○       Edge Gateway throughput

🔹 vRealize Log Insight (Aria Operations for Logs)

Forward /opt/vmware/vcloud-director/logs/*.log logger --server vrliserver.local --port 514 --protocol udp

●      

●       Create dashboards for:

○       Failed logins

○       NSX sync errors

○       API latency trends

🔹 Custom Monitoring (Prometheus/Grafana)

●       Use vCD API endpoints to scrape metrics.

●       Expose custom dashboards: cell CPU, queue size, tenant counts.

8️⃣ Best Practices for Stability & Monitoring

Area	Best Practice
Logging	Centralize to Log Insight or Splunk.
Backups	Automate DB + transfer storage backups nightly.
Scaling	1 cell per 5000 VMs; load balance API/UI separately.
Database	Monitor with pgAdmin; tune connection pool size.
RabbitMQ	Clear stale queues monthly.
Alerts	Create health alarms for cell down, NSX disconnect, DB lag.
Patch Cadence	Apply vCD and OS patches every quarter.

✅ In Summary

Category	Focus	Tool / Log
Log Analysis	Root cause of errors	cell.log, vimserver.log
Common Issues	DB, NSX, vCenter, network	cell-management-tool, logs
Performance	Cell, DB, API optimization	vROps, pg_stat_activity
Support Tools	Maintenance & diagnostics	cell-management-tool, diagnostics bundle
Monitoring	Proactive health visibility	vROps, Log Insight, API metrics