SDDC Manager displays incorrect ESXi host version after out of band update

Products

• VMware Cloud Foundation

Issue/Introduction

When performing out-of-band (OOB) upgrades on ESXi hosts outside of the Lifecycle Management (LCM) workflow, the SDDC Manager inventory database may fail to synchronize, causing the user interface to display older build versions

Environment

• VMware Cloud Foundation 4.x
• VMware Cloud Foundation 5.x

Cause

SDDC Manager maintains its own inventory database of host versions. When an ESXi host is upgraded outside of the SDDC Manager lifecycle management workflow (out-of-band upgrade), the inventory database is not automatically updated. This causes the SDDC Manager UI to display the old version even though the host is running the new version.

Resolution

Before making any changes, make sure to take a snapshot of the SDDC VM Taking and restoring snapshots of the SDDC Manager appliance

To resolve the issue, manual synchronization of the SDDC Manager inventory database.

1. Verify Host State: SSH to the affected ESXi host as a root user and run vmware -v to confirm the actual build version.
2. Access SDDC Manager: SSH to the SDDC Manager appliance as a vcf user and switch to root user
3. Identify Host: Retrieve the host ID (UUID) for the affected host(s): curl -s localhost/inventory/hosts | jq -r '.[]|{id,hostName}'
4. SDDC Database Check: Access the PostgreSQL platform database: /usr/pgsql/13/bin/psql -U postgres -h localhost -d platform
   1. Identify the specific host record: SELECT id, hostname, version FROM host;
   2. Exit out of the PostgreSQL using \q
5. Execute Update: Update the host version: curl -X PATCH 'localhost/inventory/entities/<host-id>' \ -d '{"version":"<version>", "type":"ESXI"}' \ -H 'Content-Type:application/json'
   (Replace <version> with the correct ESXi version retrieved from Step 1 - it will be in the format of eg: 8.0.3-####### and <host-id> should be replaced with the UUID retried from step 3)
6. Restart Services: Restart the LCM services to clear the cache: /opt/vmware/vcf/operationsmanager/scripts/cli/sddcmanager_restart_services.sh
7. Verify: Refresh the SDDC Manager UI and confirm the correct version is displayed.

 

Additional Information

Note: To avoid future version discrepancies, prioritize the use of SDDC Manager Lifecycle Management for all ESXi host upgrades.

Synchronize inventory versions after out-of-band upgrade in a VMware Cloud Foundation Environment

SDDC/VCF environments and Out Of Band Changes