"vCenter Installation failed" when deploying a new VCF domain to ESX hosts with non-default vswitch portgroup names

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware SDDC Manager

Issue/Introduction

• When deploying a VCF instance using the VCF Installer, it fails to deploy vCenter with these messages in the UI
  
vCenter installation failed. Check logs under /var/log/vmware/vcf/domainmanager/ci-installer-<DATE> for more details.
vCenter installation failed. Check logs under /var/log/vmware/vcf/domainmanager/ci-installer-<DATE> for more details.
vCenter installation failed. Check logs under /var/log/vmware/vcf/domainmanager/ci-installer-<DATE> for more details.
vCenter installation failed. Check logs under /var/log/vmware/vcf/domainmanager/ci-installer-<DATE> for more details.
  
  
• Errors in /var/log/vmware/vcf/domainmanager/domainmanager.log show the following
  
  OVF Tool: Error: Invalid target name (VM Network) specified in net mapping. OVF
networks:   Network 1. Target networks:   <non-default portgroup name>
OVF Tool: Completed with errors


 

 

Environment

VCF 9.0

Cause

The VCF Installer expects the virtual machine portgroup on ESX to be "VM Network". Changing this before starting a deployment will cause it to fail.

Resolution

Change the default virtual machine portgroup name on each ESXi host back to "VM Network" before retrying the deployment.