Symptoms

The vSphere Client remote plug-in architecture is designed to integrate plug-in functionality into the vSphere Client without the requirement to run inside vCenter Server.Starting from 8.0.210 release, VxRail supports vSphere Client remote plug-in architecture, the legacy vCenter local plugin is deprecated.If there are multiple 8.0.210 or later version clusters under the same vCenter, one of the cluster's VxRail manager VMs performs as the remote plug-in primary server and provides plug-in services to other clusters.All VxRail plugin menus are missing from vCenter UI if the remote plug-in primary server is down.

Cause

Since the affected VM is the VxRail remote plug-in primary server, all plug-in features are lost.Two scenarios can cause this issue: Scenario 1 - The remote plug-in primary server is temporarily down, for example user powers it off, or it is shut down unexpectedly. Scenario 2 - The remote plug-in primary server is permanently down, for example user deletes the VM or deletes the whole cluster that hosts the VM.

Resolution

For Scenario 1:Follow the below steps to switch the primary server role to another healthy VxRail manager. SSH into a healthy VxRail Manager VMGet the affected remote plug-in primary server IP and cluster ID by following command. curl --unix-socket /var/lib/vxrail/nginx/socket/nginx.sock -X GET 'http://127.0.0.1/rest/vxm/internal/cms-service/v1/cms/extension/candidate-servers' --header 'Content-Type: application/json' -d '{}' For example, in a lab environment, the IP is x.x.119.201 and cluster ID is domain-c1008. Mark the identified VM as in-maintenance mode by following command. curl -v --unix-socket /var/lib/vxrail/nginx/socket/nginx.sock -X DELETE 'http://127.0.0.1/rest/vxm/internal/cms-service/v1/cms/extension' --header 'Content-Type: application/json' -d '{"cluster_manager": {"host":"<down_vxm_ip>"}, "cluster_id": "<down_cluster_id>"}' For example: The remote plug-in primary server is automatically switched to a healthy VxRail Manager, you can go back to vCenter and refresh the page to check if the VxRail plugin works again. For Scenario 2:Follow the below steps to run a script to sync the extension info and recover the plug-in. Download the KB attachment ZIP file, extract it to get the script sync_after_delete_cluster.pyUpload the script to a healthy VxRail manager under the same vCenter.SSH into that healthy VxRail manager, switch to the root user and run the script by following command. python sync_after_delete_cluster.py For example: Logout and login vCenter UI again, check VxRail plug-in works fine for all the clusters.

Support Cases