vSAN witness (dedicated virtual) node (ESXi 8.0 U1/8.0 P01) compatibility with vLCM (vCenter 8.0)

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:
When vSAN virtual dedicated witness node at ESXi 8.0 U1/8.0 P01 is managed by vCenter 8.0, vLCM would not be able to manage the lifecycle of the said witness node as part of the cluster lifecycle operation.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 8.0.1
VMware vCenter Server 8.0.1

Cause

Starting ESXi 8.0 P01 and 8.0 U1, the boot mode of the witness node has changed to UEFI from legacy boot mode. Due to this change in boot method, we need to make corresponding changes in vlCM to be able to successfully manage the witness node.

Resolution

Currently there is no resolution to the issue. This will be fixed in the future release.


Workaround:

To workaround the issue, either vSAN witness node can be manually upgraded using VUM(baselines) or the below mentioned script needs to be executed on vCenter. Post execution, the virtual dedicated vSAN witness node will be managed by vLCM. Please download the "vci-integrity_patching_script.zip" and refer the README file to run the script.

Note: Running this script will cause the updatemgr service to restart. Please plan accordingly.