Steps to manually remove a cluster from Software-Defined Data Center (SDDC) Manager via the SDDC database

Products

• VMware Cloud Foundation

Issue/Introduction

This article contains steps to manually cleanup vSphere cluster from SDDC Manager DB (database)

• When deleting a vSphere cluster from the SDDC UI (User Interface) may fail with error 'Failed' OR 'Cluster already being removed'
• If delete option is unavailable or disabled/greyed out for the cluster in the SDDC UI

Environment

• VMware Cloud Foundation 4.x
• VMware Cloud Foundation 5.x
• VMware Cloud Foundation 9.x

Cause

When an orphaned or incomplete cluster record exists in the SDDC Manager Platform database. The deletion or creation task may fail prematurely. This prevents required metadata from being properly ingested or updated.

Orphaned records typically occur when a lifecycle management task (like creating or deleting a cluster) is interrupted.

Resolution

Remediation requires manual modifications to the SDDC database. A support request must be engaged with Broadcom Technical Support.

Prior to engaging support, execute the following procedure to identify the failed cluster and extract the UUID (Universally Unique Identifier). This UUID is required by support engineers to execute the manual deletion via the inventory extension API.

1. Access the SDDC Manager appliance via Secure Shell (SSH) as the vcf user and elevate to root:
   
   su -
   
   
2. Access the Platform Database and query the cluster table to list all known clusters and their current status: 
   
   psql -h localhost -U postgres -d platform -c "select id,name,status from cluster;"
   
   
3. Identify the entry where the name column is blank, null, or corresponds to the "undefined" object observed in the SDDC Manager UI.
   
   
4. Record the UUID from the 'id' column. This value must be provided in the Broadcom Technical Support request.

Additional Information

• Cluster deletion may fail if the Managed Object ID (MOID) is missing from the cluster DB table. Refer Cluster deletion failed with error: Failed to execute delete cluster: VSAN Cluster moid cannot be null or empty
• Ensure the cluster you are attempting to delete is not marked as the default cluster. Refer Unable to delete the cluster of a Workload Domain in SDDC Manager