VMware vCenter Server Appliance and vRAM Reporting

VMware vSphere 5 now offers vCenter Server as a Linux-based virtual appliance in addition to the traditional release that runs on Windows.  While there are a few limitations with the vCenter Server Virtual Appliance (VCVA), please keep in mind this is just the first supported release.  Old-timers may recall the excitement generated by the Technical Preview over two years ago.

VMware vSphere 5 License Reporting

The new vSphere 5 licensing model is accompanied by a new licensing report that allows customers to query vRAM utilization.  Although this report is accessed through the standard vSphere Client, it is based on the next-generation Flex framework and served up via the vSphere Web Client — a server normally used by end-user web browsers.  The report looks like this:

VCVA License Reporting Bug

Conveniently, the VCVA comes with the Web Client already installed.  Unfortunately, a small workaround is needed before the license reporting feature can be used on the VCVA, which shows the following error by default:

While the actual bug is in the vSphere Client, the workaround is to re-register the Web Client from the command line on the VCVA.  Keep in mind the default username/password for the VCVA are root/vmware, shown below — please change yours.  To fix the reporting issue, log in via SSH and run the following commands, which will prompt interactively for confirmation:

# /usr/lib/vmware-vsphere-client/scripts/admin-cmd.sh unregister https://`hostname`:9443/vsphere-client localhost root vmware
# /usr/lib/vmware-vsphere-client/scripts/admin-cmd.sh register https://`hostname`:9443/vsphere-client localhost root vmware

Here is the process in action:

After re-registering the vSphere Web Client, the license report will work as expected.