VCF Installer failed new deployment validation due to incorrect SDDC manager hostname

Products

• VMware SDDC Manager

Issue/Introduction

When deploying VCF 9 where an existing SDDC manager exists, the installation fails with the error:

Existing SDDC Manager Configuration: Failed

Incorrect SDDC Manager hostname '<YOUR_FQDN>' provided whilst using the option to reuse VCFInstaller,expected hostname '127.0.0.1'.

Environment

VCF 9.0

Cause

The FQDN and/or hostname of the existing SDDC manager does not match what was entered into the installer.

Resolution

1. Review your existing SDDC Manager in vCenter and ensure that the FQDN matches the hostname that the VCF Installer is expecting.
2. Review/ update the hostname on your existing SDDC Manager to ensure it matches the hostname that the VCF Installer is expecting and is reflected in vCenter.

Command to check the hostname:
root@VCF-installer [ /home/vcf ]# hostnamectl status
Static hostname: <INVALID-VCF-instance-name>
Icon name: computer-vm
Chassis: vm
Machine ID: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Boot ID: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Virtualization: vmware
Operating System: VMware Photon OS/Linux
Kernel: Linux 6.1.158-9.ph5
Architecture: x86-64
Hardware Vendor: VMware, Inc.
Hardware Model: VMware7,1
Firmware Version: VMW71.00V.24519234.B64.2501240216
Firmware Date: Fri 2026-01-24

 

Check /etc/hosts file to validate correct FQDN is in place.

Command to update hostname in /etc/hosts file:
root@VCF-installer [ /home/vcf ]# sudo vi /etc/hosts
172.0.0.1 sddc-manager.dom.local sddc-manager   >> Edit this line accordingly.

 

Command to update or set correct VCF-Instance-hostname.
root@VCF-installer [ /home/vcf ]# sudo hostnamectl set-hostname <Correct-VCF-instance-name>

Rerun the command to validate change is successful. 
root@VCF-installer  [ /home/vcf ]# hostnamectl status
Static hostname: <Correct-VCF-instance-name>
Icon name: computer-vm
Chassis: vm
Machine ID: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Boot ID: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Virtualization: vmware
Operating System: VMware Photon OS/Linux
Kernel: Linux 6.1.158-9.ph5
Architecture: x86-64
Hardware Vendor: VMware, Inc.
Hardware Model: VMware7,1
Firmware Version: VMW71.00V.24519234.B64.2501240216
Firmware Date: Fri 2026-01-24