The error "VCHA network '####' is not available on the vCenter Server managing the target appliance" appears when upgrading vCenter in Stage 2

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• vCenter High Availability (VCHA) is enabled during the upgrade to vCenter 8.0.
• Both the source vCenter VMs and the target vCenter VMs are managed by the source vCenter.
• ESXi host names are registered as short names in the source vCenter.

    The following error is observed during the VCHA upgrade: VCHA network '####' is not available on the vCenter Server managing the target appliance.

• The following error is observed during the upgrade, even after VCHA is destroyed:

    Error occurred while trying to establish connection. exact error: problem communicating with the vCenter Server Appliance given as source host or the ESXi host where the source vCenter is deployed

Resolution

1. When ESXi host names are registered as short names in the source vCenter, destroying the VCHA using the command vcha-destroy -f may resolve the following error:

VCHA network '####' is not available on the vCenter Server managing the target appliance 

2. After destroying VCHA, restart the vCenter upgrade from the beginning. Once Stage 1 is complete, identify the short name of the ESXi host running the source vCenter and add an entry for it in the /etc/hosts file on the target vCenter.

e.g. <ESXi_HOST_IP>  <ESXi_SHORT_NAME>

3. Proceed with the vCenter upgrade.