How to add a host to a VMware Cloud Foundation workload domain when the build number does not match

Products

• VMware Cloud Foundation

Issue/Introduction

When adding an ESXi host to a VMware Cloud Foundation workload domain, a check is made against the ESXi host's build number. If the build number does not match the build number of the ESXi hosts already in the workload domain, the operation will not be permitted. This article provides instructions that allow for the expansion of a workload domain with hosts whose build number does not exactly match.

Environment

VMware Cloud Foundation 2.3.x

Resolution

1. Log in to the SDDC Manager Controller VM as the root user.
2. Issue the following command to create and edit the /home/vrack/VMware/vRack/feature.properties file:

vi /home/vrack/VMware/vRack/feature.properties

3. Add the following to the file:

feature.sddcmanager.unmanagedhostupgrade=false

4. Save and close the file.
5. Issue the following commands to set the appropriate ownership and permissions on the /home/vrack/VMware/vRack/feature.properties file:

chown vrack:users /home/vrack/VMware/vRack/feature.properties
chmod 755 /home/vrack/VMware/vRack/feature.properties

6. Issue the following command to restart the vcfmanager service:

systemctl restart vcfmanager

Note: The value of feature.sddcmanager.unmanagedhostupgrade in the /home/vrack/VMware/vRack/feature.properties file can be set to true after the expansion is completed or the /home/vrack/VMware/vRack/feature.properties file can be removed (if desired). In either instance, the vcfmanager service will need to be restarted for the change to be active.

Additional Information

Impact/Risks:

• Ensure that the host being added is of a compatible version with the vCenter Server in the workload domain...i.e. only add an ESXi 6.5 host to a vCenter Server also running at version 6.5.
• Ensure that the host being added is of a version that aligns with rest of the VMware Cloud Foundation installation. Reference Correlating VMware Cloud Foundation version with the versions of its constituent products (52520).
• If a host is added that has a newer build number than the existing ESXi hosts, the appropriate LCM update must be applied to bring the rest of the workload domain up to the same build number.