vSphere Lifecycle Manager Image Compliance check fails with Error: Host not compatible with the image, or Downgrades of manually added Components

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

• Unable to remediate the cluster as the Remediate button is grayed out.
• Error message under the Image Compliance shows as: 
  • Host not compatible with the image
• The red information icon under 'Software Compliance' provides additional error details (the drivers mentioned in the message may vary based on the vibs installed on the host):
  • Downgrades of manually added Components in the desired ESXi version are not supported.
    OR

  • Downgrades of Esxi components <Component name> are not supported. 

    
     

Environment

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

Cause

vSphere Lifecycle Manager cannot perform a downgrade of the components already installed on the host. If the newly configured vSphere Lifecycle Manager image includes older version VIBs than those currently installed on the host.

This issue is most often caused by a host having been installed with a vendor's customized ISO which may contain some new components.

Resolution

To resolve, perform one of the below options.

• Option 1 - Edit the Image and select a version of the Vendor Addon that contains higher versions of the components.
  • Refer the following KB to import most recent version of components/vendor addon, if the Lifecycle manager does not contain the new version: Newer versions of a vendor addon might be missing when configuring a Lifecycle Manager cluster image in vCenter Server 7.0/8.0.
    
    
    
    For more information on editing a vSphere Lifecycle Manager Image, refer the document: Edit a vSphere Lifecycle Manager Image
    
    
• Option 2 - Manually import offline bundles of the components of same or higher version and add them to the image under "Add Components" section while editing the Image and save the changes.
  
  • In the below example, we added Network driver for Intel version 1.4.3.0-1 and VMware Tools Async Release 12.5.1.

• Option 3 - If the newer version of VIB is not necessary and an older version is desired. The new version must be removed manually from the host.
  
  • Important: Ensure to validate the VIB being removed is not used by Network or Storage adapters. Refer KB to Determining Network/Storage firmware and driver version using ESXi Shell

1. 1. 1. Place the ESXi host in Maintenance Mode
      2. Connect to the ESXi host with SSH session
      3. Run the command to find the list of VIBs installed on the ESXi host and check if they are being used:
         
         esxcli software vib list
         
         Note: The exact <vib_name> of the third-party VIB from the name column.
         
         
      4. To check if the VIB is in use:
         
         For storage drivers, use: 
         
         esxcli storage core adapter list | grep -i <vib_name>
         
         For network drivers, use:
         
         esxcli network nic list | grep -i <vib_name>
         
         For driver components, use: 
         esxcli software profile get | grep -i <vib_name>
         
      5. If the VIB is not in use or if it is acceptable to remove them by the user, run the command to remove the VIBs listed in the compliance view drift comparison:
         
         esxcli software vib remove -n <vib_name>
esxcli software component remove -n <vib_name>
         
         
      6. Reboot the ESXi host
      7. Check the compliance and remediate the host

Additional Information

Upon reviewing the vSphere Lifecycle Manager (vLCM), the following message may be displayed: “The cluster needs remediation to finish enabling these Solutions: HBT Solution component for ESX - version 8.0.X build XXXXXX”, along with a note stating that “remediation needs completing to finish installing the HBR VIB on the hosts.”

After the cluster image is made compliant and remediation is completed as outlined in the resolution steps, the HBR agent will be automatically deployed to the ESXi hosts via vSphere Lifecycle Manager (vLCM)