Cheshire Cat Computing

Hello Steve,
first of all, thanks for your great work.

Since we updated our VMware servers i have a problem with the check_vmware.pl plugin.
I used the plugin to monitor our VMware servers through the vCenter api.

When i execute the command:
perl check_vmware.pl -config=vmconfig -report=cpu

i get the following error:
UNKNOWN: Login to VirtualCentre server failed: Server version unavailable at 'https://192.168.88.183:443/sdk/vimService.wsdl' at /usr/local/share/perl/5.10.0/VMware/VICommon.pm line 545.

The config file:
VI_PASSWORD=xxxxxx
VI_SERVER=192.168.88.183
VI_USERNAME=<user>

Versions:
check_vmware.pl --version
vSphere SDK for Perl version: 4.1
Script 'check_vmware.pl' version: 1.13

Nagios Version: 3.2.1

vSphere Client 4.1.0
VMware vCenter Server 4.1.0 Build 258902
ESX Servers: 4.1.0 348481

The following modules are installed:

apt-get install libxml2-dev # bei Debian
apt-get install libssl-dev
cpan Crypt::SSLeay
cpan SOAP::Lite
cpan Class::MethodMaker
cpan Data::UUID
cpan -r // recompile perl modules
cpan XML::LibXML
---------------------------- VMware vSphere SDK ---------
VMware-vSphere-Perl-SDK-4.1.0-254719.i386.tar.gz (unpacked, compiled and installed)

I hope you are able to help me.
Thanks in advance,
Rolf

Seems the API is failing to connect.

Check the installation on the vmware server -- make sure the API is available, and you have the firewall open appropriately (this is what I think is most likely the issue). I usually access the API on the virtualcentre, not on the vmware server itself.

_________________
Steve Shipway
UNIX Systems, ITSS, University of Auckland, NZ
Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning... -- Isaiah 5:11

hello steve!
is there any known solution 4 this problem?

i get the same message and i think it happens since a system-update of my monitoring-server running suse11.4 -> but i don't know where to start searching 4 solution
i can replicate it by updating my fedora14 and gets the same message.

could there be a significant change in perl-installation conflicting with vmware-perl-api?
there was no change on virtualcenter & esx-servers.

today i'll try to downgrade my perl-version, hope it works...

thank you for the answer, no i've no solution yet.

I had already checked my vmware servers and the virtualcentre server. The API is available, because i'm able to access it with an older nagios installation.

I couldn't solve the problem and had not enough time to test any further so i had to go back to an older backup-image.
Similar to smg72523889, the poblem started when i made an update of the whole system (debian) including perl...

if i have new information i'll post it.

i now solved the issue by removing complete perl & vmware sdk and installing new the old version of perl & vmware perl sdk.

i think the problem could be situated in vmware's perl sdk using deprecated functions?

maybe a new version of sdk will work ... i'm waiting - and next time i'll test it before installing updates

Sorry I cant help with this one much, as it doesnt affect us here and so I cant duplicate it.

We use the latest 4.1 SDK (I think) with Perl 5.10 and the latest VirtualCentre.

Steve

_________________
Steve Shipway
UNIX Systems, ITSS, University of Auckland, NZ
Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning... -- Isaiah 5:11

This error is caused by newer perl LWP libs that do certificate checking, and the VmWare self-signed certificates generate an error.
The solution is to add this at the top of the script:

$ENV{PERL_LWP_SSL_VERIFY_HOSTNAME} = 0;

Franky

thx for this tipp.

i added the line to my script, but i don't want to test it now never touch a running system

I'm actually running into the same error. What is interesting is that a tcpdump shows that there isn't even an attempt to connect to the remote server. Any ideas?

Is it possible that at the ESX server end you have some sort of additional firewall, tcpwrappers or xinetd rule that is causing the connection to drop immediately on SYN request?

That would mean that the API is OK, but the problem lies in the security rules on the ESX server (or VC server)

_________________
Steve Shipway
UNIX Systems, ITSS, University of Auckland, NZ
Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning... -- Isaiah 5:11