Failure to remediate NFS v4.1 Kerberos volumes

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Following Cluster remediation, NFS v4.1 Kerberos volumes may fail to mount on target host(s).

Environment

vSphere ESXi 8.0.1 and later

Cause

• The issue occurs due to incomplete remediation of Kerberos-related configuration fields.
• NFS 4.1 Kerberos mounting requires three sequential steps:

1. 1. Joining the reference host to the Active Directory domain
   2. Adding the Kerberos user on the vCenter Server
   3. Mounting the Kerberos volumes

• When ALL three steps are performed on the reference host BEFORE remediation, certain critical Kerberos operation fields fail to propagate to the target host(s), resulting in mount failures.

Resolution

To successfully remediate NFS 4.1 Kerberos datastores onto target hosts, follow this specific sequence:

1. On the reference host:
   • Join the host to the Active Directory domain
   • Add the Kerberos user on the vCenter Server
2. Perform initial remediation.
3. On the reference host:
   • Mount the Kerberos volumes
4. Perform a second remediation

This sequence ensures proper propagation of all required Kerberos configurations and successful mounting of NFS 4.1 Kerberos volumes on target host(s).