Required permissions needed to install vCenter Server.

Applies to: SQL Server 2012 Enterprise Edition SP1, VMware vSphere 5.1, VMware vSphere 5.5.0b.
 

Problem Description.
 

A System Administrator at my workplace was trying to upgrade VMware vSphere 5.1 to version 5.5.0b (released on December 2013) when he received the following error from the VMware setup program:

"VMware vCenter Server.
The DB user entered does not have the required permissions needed to install and configure vCenter Server with the selected DB. Correct the following error(s):
The database user 'vmware' does not have the following privileges on the 'VCENTER_DB01' database:

EXECUTE sp_add_category
EXECUTE sp_add_job
EXECUTE sp_add_jobschedule
EXECUTE sp_add_jobserver
EXECUTE sp_add_jobstep
EXECUTE sp_delete_job
EXECUTE sp_update_job
SELECT syscategories
SELECT sysjobs
SELECT sysjobsteps"




 

Cause

Why the setup program is complaining about permissions needed for the vmware login when that login has assigned the db_owner role on all three vCenter databases already, including the VCENTER_DB01 database?

The above is a misleading setup error message, since the objects listed on the error don't belong to the existing "VCENTER_DB01" database but to the msdb database. Msdb is a SQL Server system database.

The permissions are required on the MSDB database not on the VCENTER_DB01 database.

Solution
 

Please grant EXECUTE permissions on the following system stored procedures of the MSDB database to the "vmware" login: sp_add_category, sp_add_job, sp_add_jobschedule, sp_add_jobserver, sp_add_jobstep, sp_delete_job, sp_update_job.

You will also need to provide SELECT permissions on the following system tables of the MSDB database to the "vmware" login: syscategories, sysjobs and sysjobsteps.

If you do not have enough time at this moment or you do not have enough experience with SQL Server to perform the above procedure, assign db_owner role on the MSDB system database to the "vmware" login momentarily while vmware setup runs only as shown on the below image:




 

Try to connect to the database server using SQL Server Management Studio, expand the "Security" folder, then expand the "Logins" folder. Now double click on the "vmware" login, then on the "Select a page" panel make a click on the "User mapping" page, and make a click on the MSDB database. Make sure the "vmware" login is assigned to the db_owner role of the database as shown above.

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