vCenter restore operation fails after upgrade to 7.0

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• The problem occurs after upgrading vCenter from version 6.7U3C to version 7.0 Update 1 or later.
• When trying to restore vCenter after the upgrade, the operation fails.
• This issue is specifically noticed when performing the backup and restore process through an API.
• The restore operation shows a "FAILED" state, indicating the process did not complete successfully.

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 7.x
VMware vCenter Server 8.x

Cause

During the upgrade, the settings in the firewall that help vCenter work properly get changed or lost.

Rules needed for vCenter to operate, especially for services like VMDir and VMIdentity, are not kept after the upgrade. Because these rules are missing, certain ports, like RPC port 2012, get blocked. These blocked ports stop the vCenter server nodes from talking to each other and working together correctly

Resolution

This issue is resolved in vCenter Server 8.0 Update 1 and later releases

Workaround:

If feasible for your environment, manually add firewall rules to allow traffic between vCenter nodes (e.g., allowing RPC port 2012).

Additional Information

Impact/Risks:

The workaround requires manual intervention and may not be feasible in all environments..