Cannot complete file creation operation - A problem occurred during installation.

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

• vCenter upgrade fails at Stage 1 - Deploy vCenter server.
• Error - Cannot complete file creation operation. 

• In the Installer logs, we find the below error -

<sup>yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss - info: output:ERROR
+ <Errors>
yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss - info: output:+ <Error>
+<Type>
+ vim.fault.CannotCreateFile
+ </Type>
+ <LocalizedMsg>
+ Cannot complete file creation operation.
+ </LocalizedMsg>
+ <Arg type="string" fieldName="file">
+ vcsa_vm_name (Cannot Create File)
+ </Arg>
+ </Error>
+ </Errors></sup>

• The VM is being deployed on a vSAN datastore. Reviewing the ESXi host logs, on which the vCenter VM is deployed has the below loggings - 
  
  var/run/log/hostd.log:

^{yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss info hostd[2104580] [Originator@6876 sub=Solo.Vmomi opID=919cde6 user=root] Throw vim.fault.CannotCreateFile
yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss info hostd[2104580] [Originator@6876 sub=Solo.Vmomi opID=919cde6 user=root] Result:
--> (vim.fault.CannotCreateFile) {
    faultMessage = (vmodl.LocalizableMessage) [
      (vmodl.LocalizableMessage) {
        key = "vob.vsanprovider.object.creation.failed",
        message = "Failed to create object.",
      },
      (vmodl.LocalizableMessage) {
        key = "vob.vsan.clomd.needMoreFaultDomains2",
        arg = (vmodl.KeyAnyValue) [
          (vmodl.KeyAnyValue) {
            key = "1",
            value = "1"
          },
          (vmodl.KeyAnyValue) {
            key = "2",
            value = "2"
          }
        ],
        message = "There are currently 1 usable fault domains. The operation requires 2 more usable fault domains."
      }
    ],
    file = "vcsa_vm_name (Cannot Create File)",
    msg = "Cannot complete file creation operation."
  }}

Environment

VMware vCenter server 7.x
VMware vCenter server 8.x

Cause

This is due to an insufficient number of Fault domain or Standalone hosts in the vSAN cluster.

Resolution

Ensure we have the required number of host as the fault domains in the affected cluster. Please refer the resolution in : https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article/404020 

 

Additional Information

For more information in making sure there are required minimum number of Fault domain required as per Storage policy of a vSAN cluster review  - Managing Fault Domains in vSAN Clusters