What are the requirements for using the fence agent fence_vmware_soap?

Environment

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 5 (with the High Availability Add on)
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 6 (with the High Availability Add on)
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 7 (with the High Availability Add on)

Issue

• What are the requirements for using the fence agent fence_vmware_soap?
• The command fence_vmware_soap fails when the ESXi host address and credentials is used:

# fence_vmware_soap -z -l root -p redhat -a 10.33.22.241 -o list
Failed: Unable to obtain correct plug status or plug is not available

Resolution

• In order to use fence_vmware_soap the fence agent will need to communicate with the VMware vCenter server or ESXi server (in RHEL 6 Update 5 and later) that is managing the virtual machine that will be fenced.
• How do I configure a stonith device using agent fence_vmware_soap in a RHEL 6 or 7 High Availability cluster with pacemaker?
• How to configure VMware fencing using fence_vmware_soap in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 High Availability Add On withe luci?

Related Articles:

• Support Policies for RHEL High Availability Clusters
• What user permissions / roles are required for the vCenter user account to perform fence action using fence_vmware_soap ?

Root Cause

• The fence_vmware_soap agent uses the SOAP API provided by VMware vCenter and VMWare ESXi to fence a VMware virtual machines.

Diagnostic Steps

• Manual get the output of fence_vmware_soap command when ran in a terminal.

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