vCenter 8 failed to install patch Update 2b

Short post. A few days ago, I tried to install the latest patch, vCenter 8 Update 2b, and it failed. Ok, it happens. But not every time on the fresh vCenter deployment. I saw the error message:

In the logs, I have found in logs that the PSCHealth service can’t start.

Performing start operation on profile: ALL...
, stderr=Service-control failed. Error: Failed to start services in profile ALL. RC=2, stderr=Failed to start pschealth services. Error: Service crashed while starting

2024-03-03T17:59:30.71Z last_component:Patch ERROR vmware_b2b.patching.executor.hook_executor Patch hook 'last_component:Patch' failed.
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/storage/updatemgr/software-updatelpvv5_r1/stage/scripts/patches/payload/components-script/last_component/__init__.py", line 266, in _perfromStartAllVmwareServices
    _startAllVMwareServices(addHookData)
  File "/storage/updatemgr/software-updatelpvv5_r1/stage/scripts/patches/payload/components-script/last_component/__init__.py", line 255, in _startAllVMwareServices
    raise UserError(FAILED_TO_START_SERVICES_TEXT)
patch_errors.UserError: Failed to start all services after successful patching.

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/storage/updatemgr/software-updatelpvv5_r1/stage/scripts/patches/py/vmware_b2b/patching/executor/hook_executor.py", line 74, in executeHook
    executionResult = systemExtension(args)
  File "/storage/updatemgr/software-updatelpvv5_r1/stage/scripts/patches/libs/sdk/extensions.py", line 106, in __call__
    result = self.extension(*args)
  File "/storage/updatemgr/software-updatelpvv5_r1/stage/scripts/patches/libs/sdk/extensions.py", line 123, in _func
    return func(*args)
  File "/storage/updatemgr/software-updatelpvv5_r1/stage/scripts/patches/payload/components-script/last_component/__init__.py", line 289, in patch
    _perfromStartAllVmwareServices(addHookData)
  File "/storage/updatemgr/software-updatelpvv5_r1/stage/scripts/patches/payload/components-script/last_component/__init__.py", line 271, in _perfromStartAllVmwareServices
    _startAllVMwareServices(addHookData)
  File "/storage/updatemgr/software-updatelpvv5_r1/stage/scripts/patches/payload/components-script/last_component/__init__.py", line 255, in _startAllVMwareServices
    raise UserError(FAILED_TO_START_SERVICES_TEXT)
patch_errors.UserError: Failed to start all services after successful patching.
2024-03-03T17:59:30.125Z ERROR vmware_b2b.patching.phases.patcher Patch hook Patch got ComponentWrapperError.
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/storage/updatemgr/software-updatelpvv5_r1/stage/scripts/patches/py/vmware_b2b/patching/phases/patcher.py", line 208, in patch
    _patchComponents(ctx, userData, statusAggregator.reportingQueue)
  File "/storage/updatemgr/software-updatelpvv5_r1/stage/scripts/patches/py/vmware_b2b/patching/phases/patcher.py", line 90, in _patchComponents
    executeComponentHook(Hook.Patch, ctx, c, userData, reportingQueue)
  File "/storage/updatemgr/software-updatelpvv5_r1/stage/scripts/patches/py/vmware_b2b/patching/executor/execution_facade.py", line 97, in executeComponentHook
    result = executeHook(c.patchScript, hook, args,
  File "/storage/updatemgr/software-updatelpvv5_r1/stage/scripts/patches/py/vmware_b2b/patching/executor/execution_facade.py", line 53, in executeHook
    result = executor.executeHook(scriptFile, hook, args, reportQueue, reportIdentifier)
  File "/storage/updatemgr/software-updatelpvv5_r1/stage/scripts/patches/py/vmware_b2b/patching/executor/hook_executor_process.py", line 119, in executeHook
    raise ex
patch_errors.ComponentError
2024-03-03T17:59:31.136Z WARNING root stopping status aggregation...
2024-03-03T17:59:31.139Z ERROR __main__ Patch vCSA failed

Cause and Solution:

The cause was that I had a different Timezone on the ESXi host and vCenter server. As you know, ESXi is in the UTC timezone by default.
So, the solution was to change timezone on the vCenter Server to UTC, install the patch and then go back with timezone to the previous one.

I hope that the issue is only with that particular patch. I have installed patches many times in the past and there was not a problem with a timezone. I hope it help you, if you will hit the same issue.

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