Application Services 6.x service blueprint deployment error - ERROR: C:\opt\vmware-appdirector\agent\appd.properties not found. Abort

Issue:

This error is very common error and very irritating, the application deployment fails after very long wait on Node Setup stage and when you see the Deployed VM you would find the below error at C:\opt\vmware-appdirector\agent\logs

INFO 2015-11-10 16:56:17,468 - C:\opt\vmware-appdirector\agent\appd.properties not detected.

INFO 2015-11-10 16:56:17,468 - Wait for 2 seconds before retry ...

And after 150150 seconds, retrying every 2 seconds it aborts

INFO 2015-11-10 16:57:03,578 - Wait limit 150150 seconds over. Giving up.

INFO 2015-11-10 16:57:03,578 - ERROR: C:\opt\vmware-appdirector\agent\appd.properties not found. Abort.

INFO 2015-11-10 16:57:03,734 -

INFO 2015-11-10 16:57:03,734 -

INFO 2015-11-10 16:57:03,749 - Process exited with code 1

And on Application Services execution plan of Deployments will remain at Node Setup for several minutes and fails

Resolution:

There could be multiple reasons for this, before trying below steps make sure you have prepared the Windows Template as recommended in the below VMware document

 http://pubs.vmware.com/vra-62/topic/com.vmware.ICbase/PDF/vrealize-automation-62-using-application-services.pdf page 52

If correct JRE version, Vmware Cloud Application Director Agent Bootstrap service and VCACGuestAgentService (vCAC agent service) is installed and could be restarted without errors in the Template then stop both the services and proceed further.

Check: If the windows machine deployed is getting the proper IP and networking, sometime the VM doesn’t pickup the IP from Customization Specification. If that is the case then create a new customization specification and run again or try the blow steps to reconfigure the networking configuration again

You can find customization specification in vCenter Server at Home>Customization Specifications Manager

01: In the networking section, select Custom settings instead of Typical settings

02: If it was already on Custom settings then delete the default network interface and Click on New

03: By default it is set on DHCP, click on the setting button available on top right of network interface button

04: Now Select the DNS tab and update the DNS information, Save the settings and complete the Customization Specification Wizard

Now request Application Service from vRealize Automation service Catalog and see if get through that stage, if it still continues then follow the below steps

Ideally in the application services blueprint (Template), the vCAC guest agent is installed automatically by  VMware Cloud Application Director Agent Bootstrap service. So as per the Vmware documents, you would just  place the unzipped files to their designated location and run the Bootstrap service. In this method we would manually install the services. For that first lets uninstall all the services

Uninstalling the Services (Cleanup)

• Connect to your Template (Convert to VM if Template or Power On the VM is using Linked Clone), and run the Command Prompt with Admin Privilege

• Go to Temp directory where you extracted the Vmware Cloud Application Director Agent Bootstrap service  and run the below Batch file

appd_bootstrap_removal

This batch file  will remove the files and folder from "C:\opt\". Check the respective service has been removed, sometimes it stays on disabled mode, you may wait or restart the Windows if it stays at disabled mode.

• Now go to uninstall the vCAC guest agent service by going to its extracted location and running the below command, i.e.,

winService.exe -u

At this point, I would also delete all the extracted files and start over again, delete the files from

C:\VRMGuestAgent

C:\opt\vmware-jre

Lets start from the beginning, reboot the Windows  and download the required files

Find all the agents on Application Services Appliance @ /home/darwin/tcserver/darwin/webapps/darwin/agent

1. JRE 1.7 http://ip of Application Services appliance/agent/jre-1.7.0_72-win64.zip

2. VMware Cloud Application Director Agent Bootstrap service http://ip of Application Services appliance/agent/vmware-appdirector-agent-bootstrap-windows_6.0.0.0.zip

3. Windows vCAC Guest Agent  https://ip_of_vRealize_Automation_appliance:5480/installer

Important: Before extracting the downloaded files, disable the security by going to the properties of the zip file and click on "UNBLOCK", if you miss this step then certainly you will encounter above error message.

1. Extract the JRE 1.7 files to "C:\opt\vmware-jre"

Confirm the Java version by below command

2. Extract the VMware Cloud Application Director Agent Bootstrap service to Temporary folder  "C:\Temp", also place the "NTRights.exe" file in the same location. If you do not have NTRights.exe file then download "Windows 2003 Resource Kit", then copy NTRights.exe from this kit. If you do not use NTRights.exe for bootstrap service delegation then you are instructed to manually delegate .\darwin user to the Bootstrap service.

Now install this service by running below command

install.bat password=your_desired_password cloudProvider=vcac vcacServer=fqdn_of_IaaS_Server httpsMode=true

There shouldn’t be any error after the above command runs

Check if bootstrap service is installed and delegated to  .\darwin

You can reset the .\darwin user's password by going to Start>>RUN>>lusrmgr.msc, use this if the service doesn't start with the given password

3. Extract Windows vCAC Guest Agent to "C:\" and

Cd C:\VRMGuestAgent

Run the below command

WinService -I -h fqdn_of_IaaS:443 -p ssl

Make sure the above services are installed and confirm if you can start the services. Stop both services now and power off the VM.

Create a new snapshot for linked clone or convert the VM to template for full clone and proceed deploying the application now. Hope these steps are helpful, as I was lost and spent much more time troubleshooting.