Rebuild the vCenter 4.1 Database

After purging my vCenter database, I seemingly corrupted it (I should have taken a snapshot first). In this case, as the database was small (read: 1 host, 6 VMs) I decided to rebuild it. This is not something you’ll want to do lightly, as well, everything kinda goes away. If you do proceed with this on a production system, and have a corresponding RPE, well, consider yourself warned.

Note: Under normal circumstances you will have either a database backup or a snapshot of your vCenter VM before doing the pruning mentioned prior… a rebuild can be useful however, in times where you don’t.

Here’s how:

1. Stop the vCenter Server Service
1. Start > Run > services.msc
2. Find vCenter Server Service
3. Click Stop
   
2. Fire up a command prompt
3. Change directories to “C:\Program Files\VMware\Infrastructure\VirtualCenter Server”
4. Run vpxd.exe -b, you’ll be greeted with the following:
   PS C:\Program Files\VMware\Infrastructure\VirtualCenter Server> .\vpxd.exe -b
   [2010-10-19 21:58:31.794 03744 info ‘App’] Current working directory: C:\Program Files\VMware\Infrastructure\VirtualCenter Server
   [2010-10-19 21:58:31.794 03744 info ‘App’] Log path: C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMwareVirtualCenter\Logs
   [2010-10-19 21:58:31.794 03744 info ‘App’] Initializing SSL
   [2010-10-19 21:58:31.810 03744 info ‘Libs’] Using system libcrypto, version 9080CF
   [2010-10-19 21:58:34.059 03744 info ‘App’] Vmacore::InitSSL: doVersionCheck = true,handshakeTimeoutUs = 120000000
   [2010-10-19 21:58:54.026 03744 info ‘App’] [LdapBackup] Making sure LDAP instance VMwareVCMSDS is running
   [2010-10-19 21:58:54.057 03744 info ‘App’] [LdapBackup] Attempting to start service ADAM_VMwareVCMSDS…
   [2010-10-19 21:58:54.135 03744 info ‘App’] [LdapBackup] Service started
5. After that, you can start the service again.

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