Dell APEX Cloud Platform for Microsoft Azure: Cluster Update Fails at "Service 'MOC HostAgent Service (mochostagent)' Cannot be Started

Summary: You may encounter this error while updating your Dell APEX Cloud Platform for Microsoft Azure cluster "Type 'UpdateMoc' of Role 'MocArb' raised an exception: [UpdateMoc:Calling Update-nUpgrade Moc Service binaries) Service 'MOC HostAgent Service (mochostagent)' cannot be started." ...

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Symptoms

Cluster update fails, and you may see following error message on Dell APEX Cloud Platform (ACP) Windows Admin Center (WAC) extension: 
Type 'UpdateMoc' of Role 'MocArb' raised an exception: [UpdateMoc:Calling Update-nUpgrade Moc Service binaries) Service 'MOC HostAgent Service (mochostagent)' cannot be started.
Screenshot of error message

Cause

The update process creates a file named program in the root directory of the C: Drive, leading to subsequent update failures because the service path for mochostagent contains a space.

Resolution

1. Look for the presence of a file named program (without any extension) or program.exe in the root directory of the C: Drive on every node, such as c:\program or c:\program.exe
  • If such a file is found, rename it to program.txt.
  • If the file is not found, but the mochostagent service is not running, run command "sc.exe start mochostagent" to start the service.
2. To confirm that the mochostagent service can now start, run the following command on the node: 
sc.exe query mochostagent

Screenshot of command output

3. Should the mochostagent service start successfully, click Retry within the Dell ACP WAC extension to continue the update process.

Additional Information

Following the implementation of the resolution step, if you encounter a new update error message, consult the Microsoft release notes for potential solutions or open a new Service Request (SR) to engage Dell Support for further assistance.

Microsoft release notes:

Affected Products

APEX Cloud Platform for Microsoft Azure
Article Properties
Article Number: 000227259
Article Type: Solution
Last Modified: 08 Aug 2024
Version:  3
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