Issue: The vmmservice may crash when adding a VMware vCenter environment that uses distributed switches in System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008

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Clik here to view. We should be rolling out a KB article on this pretty soon (if it's not already) but I figured a heads up here would be a good idea too.

Symptoms

The vmmservice may crash while attempting to add a VMware vCenter environment that uses distributed switches. 

Cause

System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 does not currently support the use of distributed switches.  This is a new feature from VMware introduced with VI4. 

The following output is from the vmm_mpsreport trace that shows a VMware vCenter environment being added under management by VMM.  In the following exception, note the "System.InvalidCastException: Unable to cast object of type 'Microsoft.VirtualManager.VMWareService.VirtualDeviceBackingInfo' to type 'Microsoft.VirtualManager.VMWareService.VirtualDeviceDeviceBackingInfo'."

85000 84661,20:32:16.616 03-31-2010,0x115C,0x12E8,4,WatsonExceptionReport.cs,755,0x00000000,Unhandled exception caught.,{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000},1,
85001 84662,20:32:16.616 03-31-2010,0x115C,0x12E8,4,WatsonExceptionReport.cs,756,0x00000000,Unhandled exception.,{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000},1,
85002 84663,20:32:16.617 03-31-2010,0x115C,0x12E8,4,WatsonExceptionReport.cs,756,0x00000000,"System.InvalidCastException: Unable to cast object of type 'Microsoft.VirtualManager.VMWareService.VirtualDeviceBackingInfo' to type 'Microsoft.VirtualManager.VMWareService.VirtualDeviceDeviceBackingInfo'.
85003    at Microsoft.Carmine.VMWareImplementation.VmwVMNetworkAdapter.get_ConnectedPort()
85004    at Microsoft.Carmine.VMWareImplementation.VmwVMNetworkAdapter.get_ConnectedSwitch()
85005    at Microsoft.VirtualManager.Engine.BitBos.VMRefresherBase.AddNewNICToVM(IVMNetworkAdapter vmAdapter)
85006    at Microsoft.VirtualManager.Engine.BitBos.VMRefresherBase.UpdateNICs(IVMComputerSystem vmComputer)
85007    at Microsoft.VirtualManager.Engine.BitBos.VMRefresherBase.UpdateFullVMObjectToCarmine(IVMComputerSystem vmComputer; VMData vmData; UpdateRequired updateRequired; Boolean vmObjectHasChanged)
85008    at Microsoft.VirtualManager.Engine.BitBos.VMRefresherBase.UpdateFullVMObject(IVMComputerSystem vmComputer)
85009    at Microsoft.VirtualManager.Engine.BitBos.VMRefresherBase.AddFullVMObjectToCarmine(IVMComputerSystem vmComputer)
85010    at Microsoft.VirtualManager.Engine.BitBos.VMRefresherBase.AddorUpdateNewlyFoundVM(IVMComputerSystemSummary vmComputer)
85011    at Microsoft.VirtualManager.Engine.BitBos.VMRefresherBase.AddNewVirtualMachines(List`1 hostVirtualMachines; List`1 toAdd)
85012    at Microsoft.VirtualManager.Engine.BitBos.VMRefresherBase.RunLightRefresher()
85013    at Microsoft.VirtualManager.Engine.BitBos.VMRefresherBase.UpdateHostandVMs(VMRefresherType refresherType; Guid vmObjectId; VM tempVm)
85014    at Microsoft.VirtualManager.Engine.BitBos.VmLightRefresher.RefreshData(HostReference hostRef)
85015    at Microsoft.VirtualManager.Engine.RefreshDriver`1.RefreshThreadFunction(Object obj)",{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000},1,

The following events may also be logged in the VM Manager log:

Log Name:      VM Manager
Source:        Virtual Machine Manager
Date:         
Event ID:      19999
Task Category: None
Level:         Error
Keywords:      Classic
User:          N/A
Computer:     
Description:
Virtual Machine Manager (vmmservice:4676) has encountered an error and needed to exit the process. Windows generated an error report with the following parameters:
Event:VMM20
P1(appName):vmmservice
P2(appVersion):2.0.4271.0
P3(assemblyName):VMWareImplementation
P4(assemblyVer):2.0.4273.0
P5(methodName):M.C.V.VmwVMNetworkAdapter.get_ConnectedPort
P6(exceptionType):System.InvalidCastException
P7(callstackHash):f20b

Log Name:      VM Manager
Source:        Virtual Machine Manager
Date:         
Event ID:      1
Task Category: None
Level:         Error
Keywords:      Classic
User:          N/A
Computer:     
Description:
System.InvalidCastException: Unable to cast object of type 'Microsoft.VirtualManager.VMWareService.VirtualDeviceBackingInfo' to type 'Microsoft.VirtualManager.VMWareService.VirtualDeviceDeviceBackingInfo'.

Resolution

This is a known issue and will be resolved with the next rollup for System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2 which is scheduled to be released in Q2 2010.

Mike Briggs | Senior Support Escalation Engineer

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Clik here to view. Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.