VMware vCloud Usage Meter 4.7 Release Notes

vCloud Usage Meter 4.7 \| 03 AUG 2023 \| Build 22181820 Check for additions and updates to these release notes.

vCloud Usage Meter 4.7 | 03 AUG 2023 | Build 22181820

Check for additions and updates to these release notes.

What's New

The VMware vCloud Usage Meter 4.7 release introduces the following:

Cloud Editions Support

vCloud Usage Meter introduces enhancements for product collectors to support the new Core-Based Cloud Editions program.
SMTP Local Notifications

You can now receive email notifications for appliance and collector related issues directly from the appliance. As a result, if you deployed a vCloud Usage Meter appliance in offline mode or you use your email as a source for central monitoring tools, you will recieve faster notifications and alerts.
FIPS-compliance based mode Enhancement

You can enable or deactivate the FIPS-compliance based mode for the Usage Meter appliance in case FIPS is deactivated in other products such as VMware Cloud Director.
New product collector for NSX Advanced Load Balancer

vCloud Usage Meter can now automatically collect data for NSX Advanced Load Balancer (formerly AVI Load Balancer). This collector supports Basic and Premium editions on a per Service Group basis.
NSX Multi-VC Enhancement

When connecting two or more vCenter Servers to the same NSX Manager, you can now only meter the Multi-VC feature when the VMs are on stretched networks between those vCenter Servers. In older versions of Usage Meter, Multi-VC is charged for all VMs on the vCenter Servers connected to the same NSX Manager.

Configuration Maximums

To view the tested scale and the VMware-recommended concurrency limits, see VMware Configuration Maximums.

Supported Browsers

The vCloud Usage Meter 4.7 Web application is compatible with the following Web browsers.

Google Chrome
Mozilla Firefox
Microsoft Edge

vCloud Usage Meter 4.7 is tested against the following Web browser versions.

Windows 10
macOS Monterey 13.4.1
centOS 7

Windows 10

Google Chrome 115.0.2
Microsoft Edge (64-bit) 115.0.1901.183
Mozilla Firefox (64-bit) 115.0.2

macOS Monterey 13.4.1

Google Chrome 115.0.5790.102
Apple Safari 16.5.2 (18615.2.9.11.10)
Mozilla Firefox (64-bit) 115.0.2

centOS 7

Google Chrome 115.0.5790.110
Mozilla Firefox (64-bit) 102.10.0esr

Upgrading from Previous Releases

You can install vCloud Usage Meter 4.7 as an in-place upgrade on top of vCloud Usage Meter 4.3 and later. For information, see Upgrading the vCloud Usage Meter Appliance.

If you are upgrading from vCloud Usage Meter 4.x to version 4.7, in the vCloud Usage Meter Web interface, you must manually accept the certificates for all metered product servers.

To ensure the automatic aggregation and reporting of the monthly product consumption data, after a successful upgrade from version 4.3 or later to version 4.7, VMware recommends that you do not revert to the snapshot of the source vCloud Usage Meter appliance.

Caveats and Limitations

The vCloud Usage Meter team has identified the following issues with the metering of NSX-V and VMware Aria Operations.

vCloud Usage Meter fails to meter NSX-V. If you have to meter product consumption data for NSX-V Manager appliances, please refrain from a deployment or an upgrade of vCloud Usage Meter to version 4.7. If you already use vCloud Usage Meter 4.7 and encounter the issue with the metering of the registered NSX-V Manager instances, contact the GSS team for more details.

The license edition of VMware Aria Operations in the generated product consumption reports is inaccurate. If you encounter this issue, contact the GSS team and create a remediation PR.

Resolved Issues

The status of the registered NSX-V Manager instance is Credentials verified

The Credentials verified message appears in the Status column of the registered NSX-V Manager instance.

Workaround: None. The status changes to OK in an hour.
vCloud Usage Meter does not send test messages to syslog servers over TCP ports despite a success message in the VAMI

If you send a test message to a syslog host that listens to the TCP port through the vCloud Usage Meter VAMI, you receive the following success message.

Successfully sent the test message to all syslog servers.

However, the syslog servers do not actually receive the test message.
vCloud Usage Meter reports both the deployed and the discovered virtual machines associated with vRealize Automation 8.x

vCloud Usage Meter reports product consumption data for both the deployed and the discovered virtual machines associated with the vRealize Automation 8.x instance which is registered through the vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager.
vCloud Usage Meter fails to collect vSAN data when all ESXi hosts for a vSAN cluster are disconnected
If all ESXi hosts, which are part of a vSAN cluster, are disconnected, vCloud Usage Meter fails to collect the vSAN data in the following circumstances:
- when the vSAN cluster uses the Duplication feature
- when the vSAN cluster does not use the Duplication feature, but the version of the registered vCenter Server instance associated with the cluster is below 7.0 Update 3.
As a result, you receive a Partial collection failure: VSAN notification in the Notifications window of vCloud Usage Meter Web interface.

You might observe the following error messages in the vccol_main.log/vccol_error.log file.
- When the vSAN cluster uses the Duplication feature
```
ERROR --- [vCenter collector thread] com.vmware.um.vccollector.VCCollector: 
VSAN stage raised exception java.lang.NullPointerException 
java.lang.NullPointerException: null
```
- When the vSAN cluster does not use the Duplication feature, but the version of the registered vCenter Server instance associated with the cluster is below 7.0 Update 3.
```
ERROR --- [vCenter collector thread] com.vmware.um.vccollector.VCCollector    : 
VSAN stage raised exception com.sun.xml.ws.fault.ServerSOAPFaultException: Client received SOAP Fault from server: ‘>’ not supported between instances of ‘NoneType’ and ‘int’ Please see the server log to find more detail regarding exact cause of the failure.
com.sun.xml.ws.fault.ServerSOAPFaultException: Client received SOAP Fault from server: ‘>’ not supported between instances of ‘NoneType’ and ‘int’ Please see the server log to find more detail regarding exact cause of the failure.
```
The inaccurately collected vSAN usage data affects the units in the reports.
Collection of vSAN data fails when using a vCenter Server read-only user assigned only with Profile Driven storage view permissions
vCloud Usage Meter fails to collect vSAN product consumption data when you use a vCenter Server read-only user assigned only with Profile Driven storage view permissions.

As a result, you receive a Partial collection failure: VSAN notification in the Notifications window of vCloud Usage Meter Web interface. You also observe the following error in the vccol_main.log/vccol_error.log file.
```
ERROR --- [vCenter collector thread] c.v.u.v.vsan.VsanServiceSession : Failed to query cluster domain-xx for 
CNS volumes.
ERROR --- [vCenter collector thread] com.vmware.um.vccollector.VCCollector : VSAN stage raised exception com.sun.xml.ws.fault.ServerSOAPFaultException: Client received SOAP Fault from server: null Please see the server log to find more detail regarding exact cause of the failure.
```
The inaccurately collected vSAN usage data affects the units in the reports.
Collection of data for vSAN that uses the Stretched Cluster feature fails for vCenter Server versions below 7.0
For vCenter Server versions below 7.0, if the vSAN cluster in a registered vCenter Server instance uses the Stretched Cluster feature, the vSAN collection fails.

As a result, you receive a Partial collection failure: VSAN notification in the Notifications window of vCloud Usage Meter Web interface. You also observe the following error in the vccol_main.log/vccol_error.log file.
```
[vCenter collector thread] com.vmware.um.vccollector.VCCollector : VSAN stage raised exception com.sun.xml.ws.fault.ServerSOAPFaultException: Client received SOAP Fault from server: Unable to resolve WSDL method name 
QuerySharedWitnessCompatibility for namespace name urn:vsan
```
The inaccurately collected vSAN usage data affects the units in the reports.
vCloud Usage Meter fails to collect the vSAN data for vCenter Server versions below 6.7 Upgrade 3
vCloud Usage Meter fails to collect the vSAN product consumption data for vCenter Server versions below 6.7 Upgrade 3. As a result, you receive a Partial collection failure: VSAN notification in the Notifications window of vCloud Usage Meter Web interface. You also observe the following errors in the vccol_main.log/vccol_error.log file.
```
ERROR --- [vCenter collector thread] c.v.u.v.vsan.VsanServiceSession : Failed to query cluster domain-xx for 
CNS volumes.
ERROR --- [vCenter collector thread] com.vmware.um.vccollector.VCCollector : VSAN stage raised exception com.sun.xml.ws.fault.ServerSOAPFaultException: Client received SOAP Fault from server: Unknown type (CnsVolumeManager) Please see the server log to find more detail regarding exact cause of the failure.
```
The inaccurately collected vSAN usage data affects the units in the reports.

Known Issues

New - vCloud Usage Meter still reports a deleted customer rule mapped to a VMware Cloud Director instance

A configured and then deleted customer rule mapped to a registered VMware Cloud Director instance is is still part of the reported data by vCloud Usage Meter.
Workaround: Execute the following steps.
1. Add a new customer rule.
  1. On the Customer Label page, enter the same name as the name of the deleted rule.
  2. From the Product drop-down menu, select the same VMware Cloud Director endpoint as the endpoint for the deleted rule.
  3. From the Object Type drop-down menu, select Organization.
  4. From Available Objects table, select only System.
2. Wait until the collection for the VMware Cloud Director instance finishes successfully.
3. Delete the newly added customer rule.
vCloud Usage Meter reports data for the virtual machines of a registered vCenter Server instance after migrating all the virtual machines associated with the instance

If you migrate all the virtual machines associated with a registered vCenter Server instance to another vCenter Server instance, vCloud Usage Meter might still collect and report data for the virtual machines no longer associated with the instance.

Workaround: After you migrate the virtual machines, delete the registered vCenter Server instance from the vCloud Usage Meter Web interface. For more information, see Delete Product Servers in vCloud Usage Meter.
The reported usage of a registered NSX-T Manager instance utilizes the Multi-VC feature

vCloud Usage Meter 4.7 detects the Multi-VC feature incorrectly and reports product consumption data for the registered NSX-T Manager instance inaccurately. The issue occurs when one or more of the vCenter Server instances are linked with both an IP address and FQDN to the NSX-T Manager instance.

Workaround: Raise a remediation case.
The vmware-um-journal service is in an inconsistent state after configuring, resetting, and re-configuring the local email notifications

After you configure, reset, and then re-configure the local email notifications for a vCloud Usage Meter appliance, the vmware-um-journal service becomes in an inconsistent state.

Follow the workaround provided in the KB: kb.vmware.com/s/article/95721.
vCloud Usage Meter reports data inaccurately for the registered VMware Cloud Director instances that use NSX Advanced Load Balancer with Service Engine Groups tagged as Standard

For VMware Cloud Director versions 10.4.1 and higher, when the registered instances use NSX Advanced Load Balancer with Service Engine Groups that have the Standard feature set, the collected data from vCloud Usage Meter is inaccurate. The issue affects the calculated VMware Cloud Director related usage in the Vritual Machine History report.

Workaround: Follow the workaround provided in the KB article: https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/95046.
After an upgrade or a fresh deployment of vCloud Usage Meter 4.7, the product consumption data collection for the registered NSX-V instances fails

After an upgrade or a fresh deployment of vCloud Usage Meter 4.7, the product consumption data collection for the registered NSX-V instances fails. As a result, in the vCloud Usage Meter Web interface, the status message of the instances in the NSX-V tab of the Products window is Collection error and you receive a Collection error: NullPointerException notification in the Notifications window. You also observe the NullPointerException error in the collection-nsx-v-error.log and the collection-nsx-v-main.log files.

Workaround: None.
The license edition of VMware Aria Operations in the generated product consumption reports is inaccurate

vCloud Usage Meter 4.7 might provide an inaccurate license edition of VMware Aria Operations and cause a discrepancy in the generated product consumption reports. For example, if the group of virtual machines that are part of the metered VMware Aria Operations instance have Not Licensed, Standard, and Advanced licenses, vCloud Usage Meter should report the instance under the highest license edition from the group - Advanced. However, vCloud Usage Meter might report the instance under the Standard license.

Workaround: None. Create a remediation PR.
Newly generated support bundle does not contain the archived collectors logs

When you generate a new support bundle, the resulting bundle.tar.gz file does not contain the archived collector log files.

Workaround: Follow the steps from the workaround: https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/94491
When installing vCloud Usage Meter 4.7 as an in-place upgrade, the vCloud Usage Meter VM becomes unresponsive

When you attempt to install vCloud Usage Meter 4.7 as an in-place upgrade, the VM on which you install the new appliance, becomes unresponsive. The process might fail with an error message.

The guest operating system has locked the CD-ROM door and is probably using the CD-ROM, which can prevent the guest from recognizing media changes.

Workaround: Follow the steps in the https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2144053?lang=en_us KB
Downloading the product consumption data for a vCloud Usage Meter appliance that runs in an offline mode returns an Alert: No usage data to download error message

If a vCloud Usage Meter appliance runs in an offline mode and contains registered product server instances, an attempt to download the product consumption report results in an error message:

Alert: No usage data to download.

The issue occurs when the collected product consumption data is not ready for download yet.

Workaround: Wait for several minutes and then download the product consumption report.
After upgrade to vCloud Usage Meter 4.7, SSH to the vCloud Usage Meter console results in a WARNING: REMOTE HOST IDENTIFICATION HAS CHANGED! error message

After upgrading from vCloud Usage Meter versions 4.3 or 4.4 to this release, when you SSH for the first time to the vCloud Usage Meter console, you receive an error message.

WARNING: REMOTE HOST IDENTIFICATION HAS CHANGED! This happens because after upgrading, the vCloud Usage Meter host ID is changed in the library.

Workaround: To delete the old host ID, run the following command.

ssh-keygen -R <IP-of-the-UM>
When editing or auditing a customer rule, all objects that are part of the rule appear as Not Found

If you delete an object from an inventory of a registered vCenter Server instance and that object is part of a customer rule, when editing or auditing the rule, all objects that are part of the rule appear as Not Found. vCloud Usage Meter displays all the selected objects with their MoRef IDs. Moreover, when auditing the rule, all the objects appear in the Missing Target Objects tab even though not all of them are deleted.

Workaround: Edit the customer rule by manually deselecting the deleted objects from the Selected objects list.
vCloud Usage Meter displays vRealize Operations instead of VMware Aria Operations

As a result of a rebranding, vRealize Operations is now VMware Aria Operations. However, in the vCloud Usage Meter Web interface, the Virtual Machine History, and the Monthly Usage reports, the name is still vRealize Operations.

Workaround: None.
vCloud Usage Meter displays vRealize Network Insight instead of VMware Aria Operations for Networks

As a result of a rebranding, vRealize Network Insight is now VMware Aria Operations for Networks. However, in the vCloud Usage Meter Web interface, the Virtual Machine History, and the Monthly Usage reports, the name is still vRealize Network Insight. The discrepancy in the naming does not affect the metering of the registered VMware Aria Operations for Networks instances.

Workaround: None.
Adding a Tanzu Kubernetes Grid management cluster deployed through Container Service Extension for metering results in a Collection Error: APIError status and notification alert
Adding a Tanzu Kubernetes Grid management cluster deployed through Container Service Extension for metering results in a Collection Error: APIError status. You also recieve a Collection Error: APIError alert in the Notifications tab of the vCloud Usage Meter Web interface. The collection data failure occurs because vCloud Usage Meter does not support the metering of Tanzu Kubernetes Grid management clusters deployed through Container Service Extension.

You might observe the following error in the tkgm_main.log.
```
ERROR --- [TKGM collector thread] c.v.um.tkgmcollector.api.TkgmClient : GET https://ip-address/apis/infrastructure.cluster.x-k8s.io/v1beta1/vspheremachines failed for endpoint '16' with 404
```
Workaround: None.
Creating a customer rule for a registered VMware Cloud Director or a vCenter Server instance before accepting the product certificates results in an Unable to process requests error message

If the status for a registered VMware Cloud Director or a vCenter Server instance is displaying a Please Accept Certificate message and you attempt to create a customer rule for an object on the instance, you receive an error message such as:

Unable to process requests. Error: Failed to get VCD searched objects for VMware Cloud Director.Unable to process requests. Error: Failed to get VC searched objects for vCenter Server.

Workaround: First accept the product certificate and then create the customer rule.
Upgrading to vCloud Usage Meter 4.7 can result in a Failed to process journal=>read error message in the vCloud Usage Meter Web interface

If the host name is incorrectly set when generating the self-signed certificate, upgrading to vCloud Usage Meter 4.7 results in an error message in the vCloud Usage Meter Web interface.

Failed to process journal=>read. Error:com.vmware.um.common.err.UmException: Hostname localhost not verified: certificate: sha256/t0k44cGiczDyGyzA/xuXcP6arPXzCiYjKeLM0pNG8LU= DN: CN=photon-machine,ST=Some-State,C=US subjectAltNames: []. Check the appliance logs for more details

Also, the Notifications page does not load.

Workaround: Ensure that you set the correct host name. Then you can either generate a new self-signed certificate or import an internal Certification Authority (CA) - Signed Certificate. The certificate CN must match the hostname of the vCloud Usage Meter appliance. For information, see vCloud Usage Meter Certificate Management.
Site Recovery Manager consumption data is missing from the product consumption report

If you configure Storage Profile Protection Groups (SPPG) on a Site Revovery Manager instance, vCloud Usage Meter cannot collect product consumption data from the virtual machines associated with the SPPG.

Workaround: There is no workaround at this time.
vCloud Usage Meter reports twice the product consumption for a re-registered Horizon DaaS instance

If you remove a Horizon DaaS instance from vCloud Usage Meter and re-register it again in the same month, vCloud Usage Meter reports twice the product consumption for this instance.

This happens because Horizon DaaS does not have unique ID and after every registration, the instance is assigned a new ID. As a result, vCloud Usage Meter considers the re-registered Horizon DaaS instance as a new instance.

Workaround: None. After removing a Horizon DaaS instance, if you want to re-register it in the same month, contact VMware Global Support.
vCloud Usage Meter does not send email notifications in case of partial collection failure for vSAN and SRM

vCloud Usage Meter does not send email notifications in case of partial collection failure for vSAN and SRM. Partial collection failure issues are displayed as error messages in the Notifications window of the vCloud Usage Meter Web interface.

Workaround: None.