Error: ESXi upgrade policy validation for cluster #### failed with an internal error Reason: Upgrade policy is missing in vCenter.

Products

• VMware SDDC Manager / VCF Installer

Issue/Introduction

• During the VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) upgrade workflow, SDDC Manager pre-checks may generate a warning as seen below indicating that the ESXi upgrade policy configured for a cluster in vCenter does not match the default policy expected by SDDC Manager. This article explains the cause and impact of this warning.
  
  
  

Environment

VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 5.x

Cause

In SDDC Manager, a default upgrade policy is applied to all clusters. However, in vSphere, each cluster can have a distinct, cluster-specific upgrade policy configured. This configuration discrepancy causes the SDDC Manager pre-check to interpret the settings as a mismatch, triggering a warning.

Resolution

1. This warning is benign and does not affect the functionality of the ESXi upgrade process. It can be safely ignored, allowing the upgrade to proceed without any required remediation steps.
   
   
2. For further confirmation of expected behaviors during VCF upgrades, refer to the specific VCF release notes for the applicable version.