Hosts will not upgrade with vCenter LCM Image

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• While checking the image compliance of ESXi hosts in a cluster being managed by a Lifecycle Manager image, errors are detected stating a host is not compatible with the image.
• Additional details may state, "Downgrades of host VIBs <VIB_names> in the image are not supported.  Add vendor Addon and Components that include matching or higher version VIBs to the image."

Environment

• vSphere 7.x
• vSphere 8.x

Cause

• This issue can occur when the Lifecycle Manager image configuration for a host or cluster contains older versions of VIBs than what is presently installed on the lifecycle managed hosts.
• This can happen when drivers/VIBs are updated directly on an ESXi host, instead of being updated through Lifecycle Manager.

Resolution

To resolve this issue, please consult KB article 320562:

• vSphere Lifecycle Manager Image Compliance check fails with Error: "Host not compatible with the image"