Error: "Cannot complete the configuration of the vSphere HA agent on the host" when attempting to enable vSphere HA due to cluster image

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

When attempting to enable HA, the following errors and symptoms may be observed:

Task List Errors:

• "Cannot complete the configuration of the vSphere HA agent on the host. 'Setting desired image spec for cluster failed'"

• "Cannot complete the configuration of the vSphere HA agent on the host. Applying HA VIBs on the cluster encountered a failure"

General Symptoms:

• HA remediation tasks get stuck at 10%.

• The Update Manager service vmware-updatemgr frequently stops.

• "No healthy upstream" displayed on the Host updates page and Lifecycle Manager page.

• No errors in found in vCenter /var/vmware/log/vmware-updatemgr/vum-server/vmware-vum-server.log

Environment

• VMware vSphere ESXi 8.x
• VMware vCenter Server 8.x

Cause

vSphere FDM (Fault Domain Manager), is a "solution," being incorrectly listed as a "component" in the cluster image. This faulty image prevented successful remediation attempts and causes the Update Manager service to crash:

YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS info vmware-vum-server[3034753] [Originator@6876 sub=EntityImageManager] [EntityImageManager 540] [Get] image {
-->     "add_on": {
-->         "name": "Cisco-UCS-Addon-ESXi",
-->         "version": "4.3.5-a"
-->     },
-->     "alternative_images": null,
-->     "base_image": {
-->         "version": "8.0.3-0.70.24674464"
-->     },
-->     "components": {
-->         "vsphere-fdm": "8.0.3-24322831"
-->     },
-->     "hardware_support": null,
-->     "removed_components": null,
-->     "solutions": {
-->         "com.vmware.vsphere-ha": {
-->             "components": [
-->                 {
-->                     "component": "vsphere-fdm"
-->                 }
-->             ],
-->             "version": "8.0.3-24674346"
-->         }
-->     }

Resolution

To resolve this, modify the cluster image to remove the incorrectly listed vSphere FDM "component".

1. Navigate to the Cluster > Updates tab in the vSphere Client.

2. Click the vertical ellipsis (three dots) next to the Edit button and select Export to download the cluster image as a JSON file.

3. Open the JSON file in a text editor and remove the vsphere-fdm entry from the components section. Ensure the JSON syntax remains valid after the removal.

   json
   
   
   "components": {
       "vsphere-fdm": "#.#.#-########" 
   },

    

4. Remove the above entry so it reflects "components": null, or the remaining valid components.

5. Save the updated JSON file.

6. In the vSphere Client, select Import and upload the modified JSON file to the cluster image.

7. Once the import completes, attempt to enable vSphere HA again.

Additional Information

• If the issue persists, verify that the vSphere HA agent (FDM) is not manually installed as a VIB on the ESXi hosts.
• If assistance is required, see Contact Broadcom support or Creating and managing Broadcom cases.