Introduction

VAMI stands for Virtual Appliance Management Interface, which is used in vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA). The VAMI provides a web-based interface for managing and configuring various aspects of the vCenter Server Appliance.

While Connecting to vCenter VAMI you might experience the issue where your Web Request will be routed to https://<<vCenter-FQDN>>:5480/#/installer?locale=en and you get an error like in the Screenshot below:

Trying to access:  https://<<vCenter-FQDN>>:5480

Redetected to :  https://<<vCenter-FQDN>>:5480/#/installer?locale=en

“This Appliance cannot be used or Repaired because a failure was encountered. You need to deploy a new appliance”

Please note that you are still able to access vSphere Client and everything is working fine, it’s just the VAMI Page is taking you to a Page with a ridiculous error on it.

Personally in my case issue started while the customer was troubleshooting the Backup of vCenter using VAMI.

During this case you can check the Service Status and find almost all the services required are running:

root@yo2vc6 [ ~ ]# service-control --status --all

Running:
applmgmt lwsmd vmafdd vmonapi vmware-cm vmware-content-library vmware-eam vmware-perfcharts vmware-rbd-watchdog vmware-rhttpproxy vmware-sca vmware-sps vmware-statsmonitor vmware-updatemgr vmware-vapi-endpoint vmware-vmon vmware-vpostgres vmware-vpxd vmware-vpxd-svcs vmware-vsan-health vmware-vsm vsphere-client vsphere-ui

Stopped:
vmcam vmware-imagebuilder vmware-mbcs vmware-netdumper vmware-vcha

Resolution:

This is an issue with a Corruption in the BackupRestoreHistory file which caused the VAMI Page to redirect to another location.

• Take a Snapshot of the vCenter and PSC before making any changes.
• Followed the Steps:
  • Moved the /var/vmware/applmgmt/backupRestore-history.json file to /var/tmp/
  • Restart the vCenter Server Appliance post restarting the PSC.
  • The VAMI Services came online and we were able to log in