VCHA Advanced configuration fails after cloning with "verify if the passive and the witness nodes are cloned, up, and reachable."

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

• Error message in VCHA UI is showing:
  
  Verify if the Passive and the Witness nodes are cloned, up, and reachable
  
  
• Looking in the Passive and Witness nodes, VCHA directories show the following files, that indicates it is not configured:
  
  /etc/vmware-vcha$ ls
alarmSpec.json vcha.cfg.tpl vcha_health.xml vchaeth.cfg.tpl vchaspec.properties

Note: We are missing the required configuration files.

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 6.7.x
VMware vCenter Server 7.0.x
VMware vCenter Server 6.5.x

Cause

The order of operation for clicking the finish button during VCHA advanced configuration matters. You must click finish at the appropriate time based on the VC version.

Resolution

Refer to the below information about how to correct proceed on each version:

6.5

With any version of 6.5, the VMs need to be cloned before clicking "Finish" in the VCHA configuration screen.

6.7

In 6.7 U2 or earlier release the VMs need to be cloned before clicking "Finish" in the VCHA configuration screen.
Starting with 6.7U3 and later releases the UI behavior changed and the user must click "Finish" first and then clone the VMs.

7.0

In 7.0 and later releases the user must click "Finish" and then clone the VMs.