VCF vCenter Server Upgrade Fails with: "Upgrade - VCENTER -- null" on the "VCENTER UPGRADE POST INSTALL" task.

Products

• VMware Cloud Foundation

Issue/Introduction

Assist in troubleshooting a Failed VCF 4.x to 5.x vCenter Uprade.

Symptoms:

VCF/vCenter Upgrade Fails with: "Upgrade - VCENTER -- null" on the "VCENTER UPGRADE POST INSTALL" task.

Environment

VMware Cloud foundation 5.x

Cause

This failure is likely due to two possible reasons:

1. The renaming of the vCenter from

2. The renaming of the Host/VM Group.

You may see entries like this:

When attempting to connect to vCenter and get the VMs in the VM group:

2023-10-12T18:37:33.899+0000 INFO [vcf_lcm,0000000000000000,0000,upgradeId=93b36a83-6fb1-486e-b6b7-2e54c1c68544,resourceType=VCENTER,resourceId=f833f543-3c38-4c33-ad0f-8ef9a5886701,bundleElementId=2da5632c-9957-4472-9390-3d603d2819c4] [c.v.e.s.c.c.v.vsphere.VsphereClient,Upgrade-1] Successfully logged in to https://<vCenter FQDN>:443/sdk

2023-10-12T18:37:33.899+0000 INFO [vcf_lcm,0000000000000000,0000,upgradeId=93b36a83-6fb1-486e-b6b7-2e54c1c68544,resourceType=VCENTER,resourceId=f833f543-3c38-4c33-ad0f-8ef9a5886701,bundleElementId=2da5632c-9957-4472-9390-3d603d2819c4] [c.v.e.s.l.p.i.v.VCenterUpgrader,Upgrade-1] reconfiguring primary availability zone VM group with newly created VC VM

2023-10-12T18:37:33.899+0000 INFO [vcf_lcm,0000000000000000,0000,upgradeId=93b36a83-6fb1-486e-b6b7-2e54c1c68544,resourceType=VCENTER,resourceId=f833f543-3c38-4c33-ad0f-8ef9a5886701,bundleElementId=2da5632c-9957-4472-9390-3d603d2819c4] [c.v.e.s.l.p.i.v.VCenterUpgrader,Upgrade-1] VM Group Name =<renamed_vm_group_primary-az-vmgroup>

 

Note that the VM group name that we're looking for is meant to be in the format: '<mgmt_default_clustername_vm_group>_primary-az-vmgroup'

This is an end user error and renaming of VCF vCenter/VM Host groups will cause this failure.

Resolution

1. Create a VM/Group with the same default name mgmt_default_clustername-vm_group and add vCenter VM into the group.
2. Retry the upgrade from SDDC (With the same Temp IP).
3. Monitor the Upgrade until the task finishes.

Additional Information

Impact/Risks:
Minimal