My apologies for not updating this post - I completely forgot 
I ended up placing a call with VMware and the resolution in my instance was to add my domain user account directly to the vCenter Administrators group - prior to that I had been a member of an ESX-Admins group that was a member of the Administrators group. Hope this helps...
Phl11 & adykang,
Were you able to resolve your issue when sorting with a scroll bar? I have the same issue and I'm using 5.5 vCenter Server Appliance.
Yes. While my active directory user account was in the VMware administrators group, the user account wasn't in the correct OU. Check your "Base DN for Users" and "Base DN for Groups" in your SSO config to make sure your user account/group is located in the OU specified there. You may need to search for an article that describes how to access that information. I just moved my user account to the OU where the other admins were located that didn't have the sort issue...
I finally resolved my issue. It turns out I used a newer version (v1.0.1) of OpenSSL which exports the key file in a different format. You can tell because the "incorrect" key file contents will have a ----- BEGIN PRIVATE KEY while the "correct key file contents will have a ----- BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY. I basically did the entire certificate process below using OpenSSL v0.9.8 and sure enough, the ----- BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY was in there and I was able to register the Inventory service.
Hello. I have recently completed a upgrade of vCenter from 5.0 > 5.1. I ran into some common teething problems with SSO but things look ok at the moment. I do have one problem that I'd really like to fix - when attempting to sort VMs in the vSphere client, I see the following error:
Unable to connect to web service to execute query. Verify that the 'VMware VirtualCenter Management Webservices' service is running on https://vcenter_server_fqdn:10443 vim.fault.HttpFault
This is repeatable across multiple systems running the VI client. The Viclient log shows:
[viclient:SoapTran:P:43] 2013-07-01 10:25:30.193 Invoke 4283 Finish AcquireSessionTicket on SessionManager:SessionManager [vcenter_server_fqdn] - Serial:0.000, Server:001.425 [ERROR]
Vmomi.Fault.SystemError: vim.fault.HttpFault
at VirtualInfrastructure.ManagedObject.InvokeMethod(MethodName, Object[])
at Vmomi.SessionManager.AcquireSessionTicket(String)
at VmomiSupport.Services.AuthenticationTicketSource.Next()
at VMware.VimServices.Query.Impl.LoginByTicketQueryCommand.CreateWebQuery()
at VMware.VimServices.Query.Impl.WebCommandBase.Execute()
at VMware.VimServices.Query.QueryServiceBase.Login()
at VMware.VimServices.Query.Impl.QueryCommandBase.PreProcess()
at VMware.VimServices.Query.Impl.WebCommandBase.Execute()
at VMware.VimServices.Query.QueryServiceImpl.ExecuteQuery(QueryWebCommand)
at VMware.VimServices.Query.QueryServiceImpl.Query(String, Int32, LanguageId)
at VMware.VimServices.Search.Impl.Utils.NewResults(ResultsInternal)
at VMware.VimServices.Search.ResultsImpl.RetrievePage(Nullable`1)
at VMware.VimServices.Search.FilterOrderObjectSetProviderImpl`1.GetObjectSet()
at VirtualInfrastructure.ObjectSetPoller`1.DoPoll()
at VirtualInfrastructure.ObjectSetPoller`1.<Poll>b__2(Object)
...
at System.Threading._ThreadPoolWaitCallback.PerformWaitCallback(Object)
[viclient:SoapMsg :P:43] 2013-07-01 10:25:30.193 RMI Request Vmomi.SessionManager.AcquireSessionTicket - 4283
<soap:Envelope xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:soap="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/">
<soap:Header>
<operationID>4C83B7E2-000010BB</operationID>
</soap:Header>
<soap:Body>
<AcquireSessionTicket xmlns="urn:internalvim25">
<_this xsi:type="ManagedObjectReference" type="SessionManager" serverGuid="3089D6D0-307C-4B0D-8BD8-94606298C034">SessionManager</_this>
<serviceKey>1b27d894-3e47-4431-9d7b-c8cb2fd457aa/VIMWEBSVC</serviceKey>
</AcquireSessionTicket>
</soap:Body>
</soap:Envelope>
Method Invocation Error Vmomi.SessionManager.AcquireSessionTicket - 4283
Message: vim.fault.HttpFault
Server XML:
<soapenv:Envelope xmlns:soapenc="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/encoding/" xmlns:soapenv="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
<soapenv:Body>
<soapenv:Fault>
<faultcode>ServerFaultCode</faultcode>
<faultstring>vim.fault.HttpFault</faultstring>
<detail>
<HttpFaultFault xmlns="urn:internalvim25" xsi:type="SystemError">
<reason>Invalid fault</reason>
</HttpFaultFault>
</detail>
</soapenv:Fault>
</soapenv:Body>
</soapenv:Envelope>
[viclient:Error :P:43] 2013-07-01 10:25:30.193 RMI Error Vmomi.SessionManager.AcquireSessionTicket - 4283
<Error type="Vmomi.Fault.SystemError">
<Message>vim.fault.HttpFault</Message>
<DetailedMessage>vim.fault.HttpFault
</DetailedMessage>
<Reason>Invalid fault</Reason>
</Error>
[viclient:Error :M: 4] 2013-07-01 10:25:30.193 System.Exception: Unable to connect to web services to execute query.
Verify that the 'VMware VirtualCenter Management Webservices' service is running on https://vcenter_server_fqdn:10443
at VMware.VimServices.Search.FilterOrderObjectSetProviderImpl`1.GetObjectSet()
at VirtualInfrastructure.ObjectSetPoller`1.DoPoll()
Vmomi.Fault.SystemError: vim.fault.HttpFault
at VirtualInfrastructure.Soap.SoapServiceWrapper.DoInvokeSync(ManagedObject mo, MethodName methodName, Object[] parameters, Int32 timeoutSecs)
at VirtualInfrastructure.Soap.SoapTransport.VirtualInfrastructure.Transport.InvokeMethod(ManagedObject mo, MethodName methodName, Object[] pars)
at VirtualInfrastructure.ManagedObject.InvokeMethod(MethodName methodName, Object[] pars)
at Vmomi.SessionManager.AcquireSessionTicket(String serviceKey)
at VmomiSupport.Services.AuthenticationTicketSource.Next()
at VMware.VimServices.Query.Impl.LoginByTicketQueryCommand.CreateWebQuery()
--- End of inner exception stack trace ---
[ :ShowErr :M: 4] 2013-07-01 10:25:30.240 Error: Unable to connect to web services to execute query.
Verify that the 'VMware VirtualCenter Management Webservices' service is running on https://vcenter_server_fqdn:10443
vim.fault.HttpFault
Stack Trace:
at VirtualInfrastructure.Utils.Log.Trace(String, String, TraceType)
at VpxClientCommon.Util.Dialogs.Trace(String, String, String, TraceType)
at VpxClientCommon.Util.Dialogs.ShowError(IWin32Window, String, String)
at VpxClientCommon.ListViewData.OnDisplayMessage()
at VMware.CustomControls.ListViewEx.DoDisplayMessage()
at VMware.CustomControls.ListViewEx.WndProc(Message&)
...
at System.Windows.Forms.Application.Run()
Any thoughts/suggestions would be gratefully received
Port 10443 is the vCenter 5.x Inventory Service HTTPS port. Make sure the vCenter Inventory Service is running and shows a healthy state in the vCenter Server Status health section of the vSphere Client.
Did you separate vCenter components or is everything running on one server?
Can you open this link in a browser? https://vcenterfqdn:10443/ (or wherever you have your Inventory Server installed).
Also make sure there is no firewall prohibiting access to that port. Also open the vSphere Client from the vCenter locally to eliminate causes like this.
Thanks for the response. The vCenter Inventory Service is running and shows healthy in the vCenter Service Status. All of the vCenter components are installed on the same server (using vCenter Server 5.1 build 1123961) and, for now, the Windows firewall is off. I get the same error when running the VI client from the vCenter server and, although, I am able to open the URL, I am not sure I should see this when the page loads:
type Status report
messageBad request
descriptionThe request sent by the client was syntactically incorrect.
Should it show me something a little more encouraging? I have nothing else to compare the result with!
Are you able to sort the VMs by name/state and not by the other columns or even the sorting by name doesn't work?
Regards
Girish
Hi Girish.
I am unable to sort by anything - name, power state, OS. It's the same whether I am looking at VMs in the Hosts & Clusters view or the VMs & Templates view.
No, that message is perfectly normal as the server expects a more specific HTTP request of your vSphere Client instead of a simple browser GET request.
I'm not sure what could be causing this error then, it sure sounds like it's simply not able to connect.
Just a guess but you could check these:
In the vCenter Server Settings -> Runtime Settings, make sure the correct FQDN and IP are set.
In the vCenter Server Settings -> Advanced Settings, check that the parameters VirtualCenter.InstanceName and VirtualCenter.FQDN match. Also take a look at parameters like VirtualCenter.VimWebServicesUrl.
You might have to re-register the inventory service in SSO too:
VMware KB: Repointing and reregistering VMware vCenter Server 5.1.x and components
Unhelpfully, this problem resolved itself - no service restarts, no system reboots: it just worked the following day. I have given it some time to see if I could reproduce but haven't run into the problem since
Your helpfulness was very much appreciated however
Infuriatingly, the problem has returned!!! Nothing has changed on vCenter - no reboots or upgrades. There seems to be no logic to the problem. I am very much regretting this upgrade...
Does anyone have an answer for this. I have had this same issue on my vCenter Appliance since I upgraded to 5.1 and am still having the issue even after upgrading to 5.1.0 1b on Friday.
Thoughts?
Thanks,
-Emily
I'm also having this issue, but I noticed that I CAN sort if all the VM's fit in the view window. If the scroll bar is there I get that same error. I thought at first it was just when I was sorting all the VM's in the cluster because I wasn't getting the error when sorting VM's on individual hosts. It turned out that most of the hosts had a small enough number of VM's that they all fit in the viewing window. I'm thinking it may be some client side video or vSphere Client issue. Anyone else seeing this behavior?
I am also having the same problem. And I confirmed on the scroll bar behavior Phl11 talked about. I tested the scroll bar by increase and reduce the windows size. If the scroll bar isn't there, the sorting works. If I reduce the windows size smaller so the scroll bar is there, the sorting doesn't work...
Andy
I also found the sorting works when I an on the VMware vCenter itself...
Andy
My apologies for not updating this post - I completely forgot
I ended up placing a call with VMware and the resolution in my instance was to add my domain user account directly to the vCenter Administrators group - prior to that I had been a member of an ESX-Admins group that was a member of the Administrators group. Hope this helps...
Phl11 & adykang,
Were you able to resolve your issue when sorting with a scroll bar? I have the same issue and I'm using 5.5 vCenter Server Appliance.
Yes. While my active directory user account was in the VMware administrators group, the user account wasn't in the correct OU. Check your "Base DN for Users" and "Base DN for Groups" in your SSO config to make sure your user account/group is located in the OU specified there. You may need to search for an article that describes how to access that information. I just moved my user account to the OU where the other admins were located that didn't have the sort issue...
I finally resolved my issue. It turns out I used a newer version (v1.0.1) of OpenSSL which exports the key file in a different format. You can tell because the "incorrect" key file contents will have a ----- BEGIN PRIVATE KEY while the "correct key file contents will have a ----- BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY. I basically did the entire certificate process below using OpenSSL v0.9.8 and sure enough, the ----- BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY was in there and I was able to register the Inventory service.