How to modify inventory version synchronization cron job schedule in a VMware Cloud Foundation Environment?

Products

• VMware Cloud Foundation

Issue/Introduction

• Scheduled daily cron job is running at 3 AM server time to synchronize the inventory versions of the managed products within VMware Cloud Foundation Environment. 
• Inventory version synchronization fails on a daily basis due to other operations scheduled for the same time.

 

Environment

VMware Cloud foundation 5.2

Cause

The default scheduled time for the inventory version synchronization job at 3 AM server time of the SDDC manager, interferes with other operations performed during that time.

Resolution

Note: Take a valid snapshot of SDDC VM before proceeding with below steps

Follow the steps below to update the cron schedule for the inventory version sync job:

1. Open an SSH session to the SDDC Manager VM and switch to the root user:

   su -

2. Open the following file in a text editor and navigate to the end of the file:

   vi /etc/vmware/vcf/operationsmanager/application.properties

3. Add or modify the following entry in the file with the desired cron schedule.

   For example, if you would like to schedule the job to be run @ 9:30 PM daily. Below is how the entry should look like: 

   inventory.version.sync.interval=0 30 21 * * ?

   The cron expression values (separated by spaces) represent:

   • 0 → Seconds

   • 30 → Minutes

   • 21 → Hour (9 PM in 24-hour format)

   • * → Every day of the month

   • * → Every month

   • ? → No specific day of the week

4. Press ESC, then type :wq! to save and exit the file.

5. Restart the operationsmanager service for the changes to take effect:

   systemctl restart operationsmanager

Additional Information

The Inventory Sync will not register a task in the SDDC UI if it does not detect a configuration drift on the components. 

For instance, in from the var/log/vmware/vcf/operationsmanager/operationsmanager.log

2025-07-25T03:00:02.848+0000 INFO  [vcf_om] [c.v.v.i.s.s.impl.VcenterVersionSync,pool-10-thread-1] Vcenter <vCenter UUID> has inventory version {"
version":"8.0.3.00400-24322831"} and product version {"version":"8.0.3.00400-24322831"}
2025-07-25T03:00:02.887+0000 INFO  [c.v.v.s.https.vapi.VapiClientFactory,pool-10-thread-1] Closing session for user VSPHERE.LOCAL\Administrator created on Friday, July 25, 2025 at 3:00:02 AM Greenwich Mean Time
 Validating the result of the inventory sync: {"entitiesToSync":["NSXT_CLUSTER","ESXI","VCENTER"],"entitiesToUpdate":[],"completedInventorySyncTasks":[{"entity":"VCENTER","syncStatus":"SUCCEEDED","errors":[]},{"entity":"ESXI","syncStatus":"SUCCEEDED","errors":[]},{"entity":"NS
XT_CLUSTER","syncStatus":"SUCCEEDED","errors":[]}],"failedInventorySyncTasks":[]}