Troubleshooting: The VMMSERVICE crashes multiple times a day and/or the SCVMM Console takes a long time to open

[System-Center-Team]

First published on TECHNET on Feb 11, 2014

~ John Outen | Support Escalation Engineer

I’ve seen a number of System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) support cases where customers report the VMMSERVICE suddenly crashes multiple times a day and/or the SCVMM admin console takes a long time to open if it opens at all . The cause can be due to a number of things, but from my experience I’ve found that if System Center Operations Manager (OpsMgr) is part of the environment, before diving deep into troubleshooting you should check the OpsMgr connection first.

From my support cases, the errors reported by VMM 2012 and caused by OpsMgr connection issues are not entirely intuitive. Below are a couple examples, and as you can see, the errors aren’t intuitive to OpsMgr connection problems.

Scenario 1: Console takes a long time to open and/or doesn’t open.

Error –> From Application Log -> shows as “Informational” in Event Log

P1: vmmservice
P2: 3.1.6032.0
P3: Utils
P4: 3.1.6027.0
P5: M.V.D.SqlRetryCommand.ExecuteNonQuery
P6: M.V.DB.CarmineSqlException

Scenario 2: VMMSERVICE stops unexpectedly and restarts.

Error -> From Application Log -> shows as “Error” in Event Log

Error 1026
System.ArgumentOutOfRangeException

CAUSE

In most cases, the problem occurs when SCVMM and OpsMgr servers encounter connection issues. The connection I’m referring to isn’t related to an OpsMgr agent installed on the SCVMM server, but rather the “System Center Operation Manager Connection” in SCVMM itself. This connection is created when executing the “Operations Manager Server” wizard and selecting  “Enable Performance and Resource Optimization (PRO)” and/or the “Maintenance Mode integration with Operations Manager)” as shown below.

Selecting those options and completing the “Operations Manager Server” wizard creates a “ SCOpsMgrConnection ” between SCVMM and Operations Manager. From my observations, many customers don’t configure PRO/PRO-tips beyond executing the wizard above since SCVMM 2012 and higher natively support Dynamic Optimization of Virtual Machines in a cluster.

To determine whether or not your SCVMM server has an OpsMgr connection, execute the following command from an SCVMM PowerShell window:

Get-SCOpsMgrConnection

If there is no output then there is no OpsMgr connection.

RESOLUTION

Ideally the fix is to resolve the connection problems between SCVMM and your OpsMgr server and verifying that the OpsMgr service is functioning as expected. If fixing the connection or the OpsMgr service does not resolve the issue and your SCVMM environment doesn’t utilize PRO/PRO-tips, try removing “ SCOpsMgrConnection” to prevent future issues.

To do this, first verify that “ SCOpsMgrConnection” exists. Open PowerShell from the SCVMM console and run the following:

Get-SCOpsMgrConnection

Output verifies that connection exists, whereas no output signifies the connection does not exist. Assuming it does exist, run the following to remove it:

Remove-SCOpsMgrConnection

Then run “ Get-SCOpsMgrConnection ” again just to verify that it has been removed.

What if PRO/PRO-tips are configured?

The fix mentioned above is intended for environments where PRO or PRO-tips are not utilized. If PRO-tips are configured in your environment, work with your OpsMgr admin to ensure that OpsMgr is functioning properly and that the connection between SCVMM and OpsMgr has no issues.

If OpsMgr is the culprit and your SCVMM environment requires immediate relief,  you might also consider removing “ SCOpsMgrConnection ” and configuring PRO/PRO-Tips once the OpsMgr environment has stabilized.

SUMMARY

If you encounter sudden VMMSERIVCE and/or console issues and OpsMgr is part of your environment:

• Verify the connection between SCVMM and OpsMgr
• Verify that the OpsMgr service is working properly
• If PRO is not configured in your environment, remove “ SCOpsMgrConnection”
• If PRO is configured in your environment, work with your OpsMgr admin to ensure that OpsMgr is functioning properly, that the connection between SCVMM and OpsMgr has no issues, and that the PRO-enabled management pack(s) is configured correctly.

And don’t forget, if OpsMgr is the culprit and your SCVMM environment requires immediate relief, you can always remove “ SCOpsMgrConnection ” and reconfigure PRO-Tips via the “Operations Manager Server Wizard” once the OpsMgr environment has stabilized.

After performing these steps, if your SCVMM environment is still having problems, you now have confidence that OpsMgr is not part of the problem and you can now focus on the error codes and error statements provided by SCVMM.

NOTE Improvements in System Center 2012 R2 resolve the issues outlined in this article.

John Outen | Support Escalation Engineer | Microsoft GBS Management and Security Division

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