Dell VxRail Troubleshooting

Cluster Connection

Cannot connect to Cluster

If your Dell VxRail credentials are incorrect and PowerChute cannot connect to VxRail, the following error message may appear in the UI:

"VxRail Cluster is inaccessible. Please verify that the vCenter login credentials are correct and that the VxRail Manager IP or FQDN is accessible over the network."

If your vCenter Server account credentials were updated but not on PowerChute, the following log messages may appear in the error.log:

"Credentials invalid, returning UNAUTHORIZED"

Ensure the correct credentials are provided via the PowerChute Setup wizard, or the Communication Settings screen.

Cannot shut down Cluster

If your Dell VxRail Cluster cannot be shut down, ensure that you configure a sufficient duration to successfully stop the cluster service and shut down the cluster. For more information, consult the NMC Event Logs and the PowerChute error.log.

Check the NMC Event Logs

1. Log in to the NMC interface: https://<NMC_IP>.

2. Navigate to Logs > Events > Log.

3. Search for VxRail-related events. For example: VxRail cluster shutdown response from <IP address>: {"request_id":"be0d7734-67d3-4787-ac49-b529f85ec099"}

For VxRail events with a request ID, you can use the Swagger API interface to investigate the status of the VxRail cluster shutdown.

1. Log in to Swagger API: https://<vxrail_manager_ip>/rest/xvm/api-doc.html

2. Select Requests from the definition drop-down list:



3. Click Authorize and enter your vCenter Server credentials.

4. Click Try it out for GET /v1/requests/{id}

5. Enter the request ID and click Execute.

If PowerChute cannot successfully issue the REST API request to the NMC, the error below is written to the PowerChute Event Log:

"Request to Network Management Card {0} to initiate {1} Cluster shutdown did not succeed. Please refer to troubleshooting section in the User Guide."

The errors below are written to the PowerChute error.log:

"NMC {0} Rest service for {1} Cluster Shutdown was unable to initiate a cluster shutdown"

PowerChute relies on the Network Management Card (NMC) to shut down the Dell VxRail Cluster via a REST API. If the connection between PowerChute and the NMC is lost, the VxRail Cluster cannot be shut down. The error below is written to the PowerChute error.log if the NMC is unavailable:

"Cannot connect to the NMC {0} Rest service for {1} Cluster Shutdown."

If you have a Dell VxRail stretched cluster, ensure that the cluster hosts are synchronized. This is required for successful API calls between the NMC and cluster. For more information, consult Dell VxRail Knowledge Base article 000180885 - Dell VxRail: Failed to do cluster shutdown if the time of witness host is not synchronized with other hosts.

If you are using a FQDN for VxRail Manager, ensure that the hostname can be resolved on the NMC by adding the hostname to the DNS Configuration screen in the NMC Web UI.

Cannot start Cluster

When Dell VxRail and Management hosts are powered on at the same time in a stretched cluster configuration, the datastore may become inaccessible and cluster startup may not work as expected. To prevent this issue, ensure that the Management host is started first followed by the VxRail hosts so the Witness host and vCenter Server are available when the VxRail hosts start up. This can be achieved using one of the following methods:

• If hosts are manually started, the Management host must be started first followed by the VxRail hosts. Ensure you provide a sufficient delay to allow for the Management host, Witness host, and vCenter Server startup before manually starting the VxRail hosts.

• Log in to the Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller (iDRAC): https://<idrac_ip>/restgui and navigate to Configuration > BIOS Settings. Expand the System Security section, enable AC Power Recovery and set a delay of 600 seconds for User Defined Delay. Click Apply And Reboot. In PowerChute, enable the option to Turn off the UPS in the Shutdown Settings page.

For more information, consult Dell VxRail Knowledge Base article 000190707 - Dell VxRail: 2-node ROBO cluster shutdown best practice.