Editing host profiles in vCenter fails with error - A general profile failure occured.

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

• On Host profile available on the vCenter, unable to edit the properties of the profile.

• /var/log/vmware/vpxd/vpxd.log logs in vCenter shows the below error loggings:

YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ warning vpxd[07147] [Originator@6876 sub=profileUtil opID=#######-#######-auto-####-h5:########-##] Role Admin on host is different to the one in host profile
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ error vpxd[07147] [Originator@6876 sub=moHostProfile opID=#######-#######-auto-####-h5:########-##] [Update]: Failed to update host profile  with: Fault cause: vim.fault.InvalidProfileReferenceHost
-->
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ warning vpxd[07147] [Originator@6876 sub=Vmomi opID=#######-#######-auto-####-h5:########-##] VMOMI activation LRO failed; hostprofile-###, vim.profile.host.HostProfile.update, ,
{stm: {0.1 : 8085'>, >, id: 7810283, state(in/out): 3/1}, session: <524e4b50-bc63-b1ec-2575-c634c56c427d, , >, req: {POST, /sdk}}>, 

YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ error vpxd[07147] [Originator@6876 sub=Default opID=#######-#######-auto-####-h5:########-##] [VpxLRO] -- ERROR task-74370 -- hostprofile-###-- vim.profile.host.HostProfile.update: :vmodl.fault.SystemError
--> Result:
--> (vmodl.fault.SystemError) {
-->    faultCause = (vmodl.MethodFault) null,
-->    faultMessage = (vmodl.LocalizableMessage) [
-->       (vmodl.LocalizableMessage) {
-->          key = "com.vmware.vim.vpxd.profile.ProfileUpdateError",
-->          arg = ,
-->          message = 
-->       }
-->    ],
-->    reason = ""
-->    msg = ""
--> }
--> Args:

• Other symptoms:
  • Esxi  root password update via hostprofile not possible due to profile update error 
  • While trying to remediate a host against its hostprofile, the task fails with error "Cannot apply the host configuration"

Environment

vCenter server 7.x
vCenter server 8.x

Cause

This can occur due to compatibility issues.

• A Host Profile extracted from a 7.0.2 host cannot be used by a 7.0.3 host due to privilege added in ESXi 7.0.3. 
• A Host Profile extracted from a 8.0.2 host cannot be used by a 8.0.3 host due to privilege added in ESXi 8.0.3. 
• A Host Profile extracted from a 7.x  host cannot be used by a 8.x host.

 These changes prevent the Profile from updating properly.

Resolution

Extract a host profile from the most updated version of the ESXi host and proceed to edit this profile. 

Additional Information

How Do You Upgrade vSphere Host Profiles and vCenter Server from 7.0 to 8.0