VCF 9 Deployment Validation Fails on NFS Storage – NFS Datastore Not Found on Host

Products

• VMware SDDC Manager

Issue/Introduction

During the validation phase of a VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9 deployment using NFS storage, the installer fails the NFS Datastore Configuration step with the following error message:

NFS Datastore Configuration Failed NFS datastore '########' with remote server ####### and remote path /mnt/pool##/#### not found on host '########'

Remediation: Ensure that the datastore is mounted on the host.

 

As a result, the validation process does not complete successfully, preventing the deployment from continuing.

Environment

VCF 9.0

Cause

The installer expects that the NFS datastore specified in the deployment configuration is already:

• Mounted and accessible on the first ESXi host in the management domain, and

• Bound to the appropriate NFS VMkernel adapter that is configured for NFS network access.

If the datastore is not pre-mounted to one ESXi host or the NFS VMkernel binding is not established, validation fails with the “datastore not found on host” error.

Resolution

Perform the following steps before running the VCF 9 validation again:

1. Log in to the first ESXi host in the management domain (Host 1).

2. Manually mount the NFS datastore that will be used for the VCF deployment:

   • Navigate to Storage > New Datastore > Mount NFS Datastore, or use the following ESXCLI command:

      

     esxcli storage nfs add -I <NFS_Server_IP>:<NFS vmkernel> -s <NFS_Share_Path> -v <Datastore_Name>

      

     Example:

      

     esxcli storage nfs add -I #.#.#.#: vmk1 -s /mnt/pool##/vmware##-v ##############

3. Ensure the NFS VMkernel adapter is properly configured and bound for NFS traffic:

   • Verify under Networking > VMkernel adapters that the adapter has connectivity to the NFS network.

   • Confirm the correct VMkernel NIC is used for NFS binding.

4. Re-run the VCF 9 validation.

Once the NFS datastore is mounted and the NFS VMkernel interface is properly configured, the validation step will succeed, allowing the deployment to proceed.

Additional Information

This step is only required for NFS-based VCF deployments; it is not applicable to vSAN or VMFS-backed deployments.