Bypass SDDC Manager upgrade compatibility checks when upgrade is unavailable due to missing compatibility data

Products

• VMware Cloud Foundation

Issue/Introduction

• Upgrade compatibility checks in SDDC Manager may fail, preventing upgrades to VCF releases. This occurs when the system cannot compute compatibility for target versions due to missing or malformed compatibility data. This issue affects SDDC Manager upgrades and can be bypassed to allow the upgrade process to proceed, provided that the compatibility data sets are verified.
  
  
• Upgrade compatibility checks fail with error messages such as:
  • PRODUCT_VERSIONS_MISSING_FROM_COMPATIBILITY_DATA=Unable to compute compatibility for target SDDC Manager version: {0} due to missing compatibility data for the following set of products on the system: {1}
  • Target SDDC Manager version: <version> is not compatible with the system.
  • "COMPATIBILITY_CONTROLLER_EXCEPTION"="Failed to load cache data from file /nfs/vmware/vcf/nfsmount/compatibility/VmwareCompatibilityData.json into VVS offline cache."
  • The product #### version {"version":"#.#.###-#####"} is not compatible with: [VcfProductVersion(productType=####, version=#.#.###-#####)]
    Example: ERROR [c.v.v.c.v.i.CompatibilityControllerAggregator,Scheduled-2] The product VX_MANAGER version {"version":"8.0.100-28093095"} is not compatible with: [VcfProductVersion(productType=VCENTER, version=7.0.3.01500-21784236)]
  • Getting Upgradable API call failed. VvsCompatibilityController controller failed with error message: Cannot invoke "com.vmware.vcf.compatibility.controllers.internal.vvs.rest.model.ProductBundles.getProducts()" because "this.offlineCacheData" is null

Environment

• VMware Cloud Foundation 5.x
• VMware Cloud Foundation on VxRail 5.x

Cause

The SDDC Manager cannot compute upgrade availability because the BOM versions on the system cannot be mapped to the compatibility data sets. Data sets might not fully reflect specific real-world environment inventory or upgrade use cases.

Resolution

Warning: For upgrades to VCF 9.0.0.0 that warn of NSX incompatibility, this workaround must not be applied. Review the following article for details:  NSX Upgrade version is not compatible with the current NSX version

Workaround: To disable the upgrade compatibility checks:

1. SSH into the SDDC Manager appliance as the vcf user and switch to root (su -).
2. Edit the file: /opt/vmware/vcf/lcm/lcm-app/conf/compatibility.flag
3. Update the property vcf.compatibility.controllers.compatibilityCheckEnabled to false.
4. Edit the file: /opt/vmware/vcf/lcm/lcm-app/conf/application-prod.properties
5. Update the property lcm.enable.vvs.compatibility.upgrade.precheck to false.
6. Save and close the files.
7. Restart Lifecycle Management by running: systemctl restart lcm

Note: Re-enable the compatibility checks once the upgrades are complete to ensure guardrails are in place.

Additional Information

To re-enable the compatibility checks:

1. SSH into the SDDC Manager appliance as the vcf user and switch to root (su -).
2. Edit the file: /opt/vmware/vcf/lcm/lcm-app/conf/compatibility.flag
3. Update the property vcf.compatibility.controllers.compatibilityCheckEnabled to true.
4. Save and close the file.
5. Restart Lifecycle Management by running: systemctl restart lcm

If the issue persists or require further assistance, please Contact Broadcom Support.