I'm posting this in case it helps anyone else, and avoids them wasting 3 hours troubleshooting like I did this morning!
Basically if you move your vCenter 5.0 SQL database to a new server you *will* break the Performance Overview Chart. You will get the infamous
Perf Charts service experienced an internal error message.
The VMware kb article for moving vCenter databases neglects to mention this.
After following numerous false trails (it is nothing to do with SQL Browser, tcp port, user permissions, localsystem account, ssl) I discovered the simple truth.
The Performance Overview chart uses the tomcat service. Tomcat is a java app. It doesn't deal with odbc, so even though you diligently updated odbc to point to the new SQL server, tomcat ignores it. Yay Java!
Instead Tomcat uses a properties file stored in
C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware VirtualCenter\
The file is named <database>.properties where <database> is the name of your VC database.
If you edit the file you will see the url is pointing to the old SQL server. Change it to the correct one and restart the VMware VirtualCenter Management Webservices service, or just reboot the VC server to make doubly sure. Your Perf Overview chart should now work.
I really wish this simple fix was documented in the kb article - it would have saved a lot of wasted time.