After following the procedure to upgrade vSphere Data Protection 6.1.4 to 6.1.6 I lost access to it using vCenter plugin with the following error message:

The first thing that I checked was the services of vSphere Data Protection appliance

Everything green… what now? vSphere Data Protection is working only vCenter plugin is not connecting.

Time to check the plugin:

Strange… It is enabled but the version is still showing 6.1.4.30 instead of the 6.1.6.10 even after the upgrade.

Next step is to take a look into vsphere_client_virgo.log file under vCenter Server Appliance.

You can find it here:

/var/log/vmware/vsphere-client/logs/vsphere_client_virgo.log

This was what I found:

[2018-03-14T15:05:59.098Z] [INFO ] -extensionmanager-pool-93968 com.vmware.vise.vim.extension.VcExtensionManager Downloading plugin package from https://VDP_IP:8543/vdp-plugin-package.zip (no proxy defined)
[2018-03-14T15:05:59.102Z] [ERROR] -extensionmanager-pool-93968 com.vmware.vise.vim.extension.VcExtensionManager Package com.vmware.vdp2 was not installed!
Error downloading https://VDP_IP:8543/vdp-plugin-package.zip. Make sure that the URL is reachable then logout/login to force another download. java.net.ConnectException: Connection refused (Connection refused)

I can see that the plugin was not downloaded and therefore not installed even though I have connectivity between vCenter and vSphere Data Protection.

Let’s install the plugin manually.

These are the steps involved:

1. Unregister plugin from vCenter
2. Download vSphere Data Protection plugin
3. Copy the plugin to vCenter Server Appliance
4. Reboot vSphere Data Protection
5. Reboot vCenter Server Appliance WebClient

Unregister plugin from vCenter

Head to: https://<VCSA_IP>/mob and select content

Click on ExtensionManager

Search the list for com.vmware.vdp2 and com.vmware.vdp2.config, if they are not showing press the (…more) option at the end of the list)

Now that we identified the extensions we’ll need to unregister them from vCenter. On the end of the page, you have the option to UnregisterExtensions

Just press it, fill in the text-box and click Invoke, you’ll have to perform the unregister process for the two extensions above

Download vSphere Data Protection plugin

Time to download the plugin from vSphere Data Protection using the following URL:

https://<VDP_IP>:8543/vdp-plugin-package.zip

Copy the plugin to vCenter Server Appliance

Upload it to vCenter Server Appliance using the CHSH method

1. Initiate an SSH connection to the vCenter Server Appliance.
2. Provide the root username and password when prompted.
3. Run the following command to enable the Bash shell:
   shell.set --enable True
4. Run the following command to access the Bash shell:
   shell
5. In the Bash shell, run the following command to change the default shell to Bash:
   chsh -s /bin/bash root
6. Use WinSCP to connect to vCenter Server Appliance
7. When connecting to vCenter Server Appliance under WinSCP File Protocol choose SCP
8. Create a new folder under /etc/vmware/vsphere-client/vc-packages/vsphere-client-serenity/com.vmware.vdp2-6.1.6.10  current version we are installing
9. Rename the existing old version folder from com.vmware.vdp2-6.1.X.XX to back.com.vmware.vdp2-6.1.X.XX
10. Copy the content from the vdp-plugin-package.zip into the new folder
11. Replicate the permissions from the old plugin folder to the new one.
12. Return to the Appliance Shell by running the following command:
    chsh -s /bin/appliancesh root

Reboot vSphere Data Protection

Now that you have the new plugin in place reboot vSphere Data Protection. After the reboot of vSphere Data protection, the new plugin should be recognized and the extensions should be added automatically to vCenter

Reboot vCenter Server Appliance WebClient

But the process is not completed as we are still getting the same error while accessing vSphere Data Protection through vCenter. We’ll have to restart vCenter Server Appliance WebClient services using the command:

service vsphere-client stop
service vsphere-client start

Success

I hope this helps someone and save you guys some time.

Have fun and keep it simple.

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Joao Grade

I'm self-motivated, tireless seeker of knowledge and occasional purveyor of wisdom. vEXPERT 2017/2018/2019

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