"Unable to collect networking configuration from" error upgrading vCenter Server Appliance 6.5 to 6.7

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:
vCenter upgrade at Stage 2 fails with error:
Unable to collect networking configuration from Source_vCenter_IP

Environment

VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.5.x
VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.7.x

Cause

This issue occurs due to the newly deployed vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA) /etc/hosts file containing incorrect information.

Resolution

1. After Stage 1, connect to the source VCSA with an SSH session and root credentials.
2. Open the /etc/hosts with the command: vi /etc/hosts
3. If the /etc/hosts file looks like the example below it will need to be updated:

 Begin /etc/hosts (network card version)
 127.0.0.1   localhost.localdomain
 127.0.0.1       localhost
 # End /etc/hosts (network card version)
 127.0.0.1       photon-machine

4. Update the /etc/hosts file to be in this format:

 # Begin /etc/hosts (network card version)
 # VAMI_EDIT_BEGIN
 127.0.0.1   localhost.localdomain
 127.0.0.1       localhost
 127.0.0.1       photon-machine
 # VAMI_EDIT_END
 # End /etc/hosts (network card version)

5. Save the file, exit the SSH session and continue to Stage 2.