Host Profile remediation fails with invalid IPV6 gateway '::' configuration

Products

• VMware
• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

Host Profile remediation fails:

• Cannot apply the host configuration. A general system error occurred: Batch host remediation failed. A specified parameter was not correct Error: A specified parameter was not correct

Compliance check results in:

• Non-Compliant

Errors logged to /var/log/hostd.log

• Cannot use IPv6 gateway with DHCPv6 or auto-conf Invalid ip spec 

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 6.5.x
VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.5.x
VMware Update Manager 6.0
VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.0.x
VMware vCenter Server 5.5.x
VMware vCenter Converter Standalone 6.x
VMware Update Manager 5.5
VMware Update Manager 6.5
VMware vCenter Server 6.0.x
VMware vCenter Server Appliance 5.5.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.5
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.5
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.0
VMware vSphere Client 5.5

Cause

If ESXi has no IPv6 configuration or it is Disabled, the extracted host profile would still have IPv6 gateway settings as “::” and it fails to remediate the host using extracted host profile.

Resolution

This is expected behavior.

To resolve, the changes in the below options need to be made on all vmkernels and TCP/IP stack fields in the profile:

Option# 1 :

Change Vnic Default gateway for IPv6 routing to blank, the remediation is successful.

• Host Proile -> Edit Settings -> Edit host profile
• Networking configuration -> Host Virtual NIC -> VDS name -> PortGroupName : vmotion -> Ip address settings
• Vnic Default gateway for IPv6 routing : Change from "::" to " " [space]

Option # 2 :

For Standard Switch :

1. Edit Host Profile
2. Click on Network configuration > Host Port Group > mgmt > IP adress settings > vNic Default Gateway for IPv6 routing
3. Choose "User must explicitly choose the policy".

For Distributed Switch :

1. Edit Host Profile
2. Click on Network configuration > Host Virtual NIC > VDS name - PortGroupName : vmotion > IP address settings > Vnic Default gateway for IPv6 routing.
3. Choose "User must explicitly choose the policy".

Workaround: