VMware ESXi 6.5: “Failed – An error occurred during host configuration.” when starting the NTP service
Posted by jpluimers on 2020/08/10
I tried repeating VMware KB: Configuring Network Time Protocol (NTP) on ESX/ESXi hosts using the vSphere Client in ESXi 6.5 using the web-client (the steps are very similar, see [WayBack] How to configure ESXi 6.5 Network Time Protocol (NTP) via Host Client? | ESX Virtualization).
It failed with the non-descriptive “Failed – An error occurred during host configuration.”:
Viewing the details isn’t of much help as you do not get extra information:
Start Service Key haTask-ha-host-vim.host.ServiceSystem.start-139845177 Description Starts the service State Failed – An error occurred during host configuration. Errors
The /var/log/hostd.log did not get me further either:
2018-04-28T11:31:48.159Z info hostd[B881B70] [Originator@6876 sub=Vimsvc.TaskManager opID=4a8dc318 user=root] Task Created : haTask-ha-host-vim.host.ServiceSystem.start-139845360
2018-04-28T11:31:48.160Z verbose hostd[B881B70] [Originator@6876 sub=PropertyProvider opID=4a8dc318 user=root] RecordOp ADD: recentTask["haTask-ha-host-vim.host.ServiceSystem.start-139845360"], ha-host. Sent notification immediately.
2018-04-28T11:31:48.160Z verbose hostd[B881B70] [Originator@6876 sub=PropertyProvider opID=4a8dc318 user=root] RecordOp ADD: recentTask["haTask-ha-host-vim.host.ServiceSystem.start-139845360"], ha-taskmgr. Applied change to temp map.
2018-04-28T11:31:48.160Z verbose hostd[B881B70] [Originator@6876 sub=PropertyProvider opID=4a8dc318 user=root] RecordOp ASSIGN: info, haTask-ha-host-vim.host.ServiceSystem.start-139845360. Applied change to temp map.
2018-04-28T11:31:48.160Z info hostd[B881B70] [Originator@6876 sub=SysCommandPosix opID=4a8dc318 user=root] ForkExec(/etc/init.d/ntpd) 205307
2018-04-28T11:31:48.213Z info hostd[B881B70] [Originator@6876 sub=SysCommandPosix opID=4a8dc318 user=root] ForkExec(/etc/init.d/ntpd) 205309
2018-04-28T11:31:48.265Z info hostd[B881B70] [Originator@6876 sub=Default opID=4a8dc318 user=root] AdapterServer caught exception: vim.fault.PlatformConfigFault
2018-04-28T11:31:48.266Z info hostd[B881B70] [Originator@6876 sub=Vimsvc.TaskManager opID=4a8dc318 user=root] Task Completed : haTask-ha-host-vim.host.ServiceSystem.start-139845360 Status error
2018-04-28T11:31:48.266Z verbose hostd[B881B70] [Originator@6876 sub=PropertyProvider opID=4a8dc318 user=root] RecordOp ASSIGN: info, haTask-ha-host-vim.host.ServiceSystem.start-139845360. Applied change to temp map.
2018-04-28T11:31:48.266Z info hostd[B881B70] [Originator@6876 sub=Solo.Vmomi opID=4a8dc318 user=root] Activation [N5Vmomi10ActivationE:0x0c012328] : Invoke done [start] on [vim.host.ServiceSystem:serviceSystem]
2018-04-28T11:31:48.266Z verbose hostd[B881B70] [Originator@6876 sub=Solo.Vmomi opID=4a8dc318 user=root] Arg id:
--> "ntpd"
2018-04-28T11:31:48.266Z info hostd[B881B70] [Originator@6876 sub=Solo.Vmomi opID=4a8dc318 user=root] Throw vim.fault.PlatformConfigFault
2018-04-28T11:31:48.266Z info hostd[B881B70] [Originator@6876 sub=Solo.Vmomi opID=4a8dc318 user=root] Result:
--> (vim.fault.PlatformConfigFault) {
--> faultCause = (vmodl.MethodFault) null,
--> faultMessage = <unset>,
--> text = ""
--> msg = ""
--> }
This did not reveal any more information, so I started digging:
-
- In
/etc/init.d/ntpd, viaNTPD_CONFIG="/etc/ntp.conf"the/etc/ntp.confis queried:ntp_servers=`awk ' /^server[ \t]*127.127/ {next} /^(server|peer)/ { if ($2 ~/^-/) {printf "%s " $3} else {printf "%s " $2}} ' < ${NTPD_CONFIG}` - This file did not have any servers configured:
# cat /etc/ntp.conf restrict default kod nomodify notrap nopeer noquery restrict 127.0.0.1 driftfile /etc/ntp.drift
- In
So it appeared that copy/paste this in the web-environment had not been persisted correctly:
0.pool.ntp.org
1.pool.ntp.org
2.pool.ntp.org
3.pool.ntp.org
I re-did the configuration by typing the correct data in stead of pasting and now everything worked fine: the service started and the config file has servers:
# cat /etc/ntp.conf restrict default kod nomodify notrap nopeer noquery restrict 127.0.0.1 server 0.pool.ntp.org 1.pool.ntp.org 2.pool.ntp.org 3.pool.ntp.org driftfile /etc/ntp.drift
It would be so nice if /etc/init.d/ntpd would show why it performs return 1 and the service start mechanism would reflect that in the errors part of the failure message.
Verifying ntpd got the client information
Two steps:
- Check if
ntpdis running
Bad response (ensure the service is started, and starts with the host, see How to configure ESXi 6.5 Network Time Protocol (NTP) via Host Client? | ESX Virtualization):
[root@ESXi-X10SRH-CF:~] /etc/init.d/ntpd status ntpd is not runningGood response:
[root@ESXi-X10SRH-CF:~] /etc/init.d/ntpd status ntpd is not running - Check if the ntpq can query the ntpd client status. It is is not running, then see step 1. If it is not initialising, then you might have a network problem
Bad response:
[root@ESXi-X10SRH-CF:~] ntpq -pn ntpq: read: Connection refusedResponse while waiting for an ntp refresh:
[root@ESXi-X10SRH-CF:~] ntpq -pn remote refid st t when poll reach delay offset jitter ============================================================================== 149.210.199.182 .INIT. 16 u - 64 0 0.000 0.000 0.001Good response:
[root@ESXi-X10SRH-CF:~] ntpq -pn remote refid st t when poll reach delay offset jitter ============================================================================== 149.210.199.182 193.79.237.14 2 u 61 64 1 3.423 -0.296 0.001
–jeroen
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| #!/bin/sh | |
| # | |
| # Copyright 2007 VMware, Inc. All rights reserved. | |
| # | |
| # ntpd: | |
| # Start and stop the NTP daemon | |
| # | |
| # chkconfig: – 10 90 | |
| # description: Network Time Protocol (NTP) daemon. | |
| # | |
| SNTP="/sbin/sntp" | |
| NTPD="/sbin/ntpd" | |
| NTPD_CONFIG="/etc/ntp.conf" | |
| NTPD_OPTS="-g -n -c ${NTPD_CONFIG} -f /etc/ntp.drift" | |
| NTPD_RP="ntpd" | |
| NTPD_TAG="ntpd" | |
| export PATH=/bin:/sbin | |
| # | |
| # Sanity check | |
| # | |
| [ -x "${NTPD}" -a -f "${NTPD_CONFIG}" ] || exit 0 | |
| # | |
| # Log action | |
| # | |
| ntpd_log() { | |
| echo "${1}" | |
| logger ntpd "${1}" | |
| } | |
| # | |
| # Start ntpd | |
| # | |
| ntpd_start() { | |
| ntp_servers=`awk ' | |
| /^server[ \t]*127.127/ {next} | |
| /^(server|peer)/ { | |
| if ($2 ~/^-/) {printf "%s " $3} | |
| else {printf "%s " $2}} | |
| ' < ${NTPD_CONFIG}` | |
| if [ -n "$(pidof -xs "${NTPD}")" ] ; then | |
| return 1 | |
| fi | |
| # if the service is configured, start it | |
| if [ -n "$ntp_servers" ]; then | |
| ntpd_log "Starting ntpd" | |
| "${SNTP}" ++memreliable,group=${NTPD_RP} -K /dev/null -S $ntp_servers >/dev/null 2>&1 | |
| /sbin/watchdog.sh ++memreliable,group=${NTPD_RP} -d -t 100 -s "${NTPD_TAG}" "${NTPD}" ${NTPD_OPTS} >/dev/null 2>&1 | |
| else | |
| return 1 | |
| fi | |
| } | |
| # | |
| # Stop ntpd | |
| # | |
| ntpd_stop() { | |
| if [ -n "$(pidof -xs ${NTPD})" ] ; then | |
| ntpd_log "Stopping ntpd" | |
| # This only stops the watchdog process. | |
| /sbin/watchdog.sh -k "${NTPD_TAG}" | |
| if [ -n "$(pidof -xs "${NTPD}")" ]; then | |
| pkill -HUP "${NTPD}" | |
| while [ -n "$(pidof -xs ${NTPD})" ] ; do | |
| pkill -HUP "${NTPD}" | |
| sleep 1 | |
| done | |
| fi | |
| else | |
| return 0 | |
| fi | |
| } | |
| # | |
| # Process comand line options | |
| # | |
| case "${1}" in | |
| start) | |
| ntpd_start | |
| retCode=$? | |
| if [ $retCode -eq 0 ] ; then | |
| # wait for ntpd to start (for a max of 5 seconds) | |
| sleepCount=0 | |
| while [ -z "$(pidof -xs "${NTPD}")" ] && [ $sleepCount -lt 5 ] ; do | |
| sleep 1 | |
| let "sleepCount+=1" | |
| done | |
| fi | |
| exit $retCode | |
| ;; | |
| stop) | |
| ntpd_stop | |
| ;; | |
| status) | |
| if [ -n "$(pidof -xs "${NTPD}")" ] ; then | |
| echo "ntpd is running" | |
| exit 0 | |
| else | |
| echo "ntpd is not running" | |
| exit 3 | |
| fi | |
| ;; | |
| restart) | |
| ntpd_stop | |
| ntpd_start | |
| ;; | |
| *) | |
| echo "Usage: $(basename "$0") {start|stop|status|restart}" | |
| exit 1 | |
| ;; | |
| esac |
The Wiert Corner - irregular stream of stuff 
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