Cluster transition from baseline to Image fails with error "Hosts in cluster: <Cluster_name> are of different models. Respective models are: [ProLiant ABC Gen10, ProLiant XYZ Gen10]"

Products

• VMware SDDC Manager

Issue/Introduction

• Cluster transition from Baselines to vSphere Lifecycle Manager Image using the SDDC Manager API fails with error :
  Validate cluster homogeneity
Message: Hosts in cluster: <Cluster_name> are of different models. Respective models are: [ProLiant ABC Gen10, ProLiant XYZ Gen10]
Remediation Message:
Reference Token: ######
Cause:


• The below article is used to transition a cluster from baseline to Image based using SDDC Manager API:
  Transition to vSphere Lifecycle Manager Images Using the SDDC Manager API
  
  
• On the SDDC Manager, in /var/log/vmware/vcf/domainmanager/domainmanager.log:

YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS ERROR [vcf_dm,6908b23ef5b382bdc1c2##########,4952] [c.v.e.s.o.model.error.ErrorFactory,dm-exec-15]  [G9946E] MULTIPLE_HOST_MODELS Hosts in cluster: <Cluster_name> are of different models. Respective models are: [ProLiant ABC Gen10, ProLiant XYZ Gen10] 
com.vmware.evo.sddc.orchestrator.exceptions.OrchTaskException: Hosts in cluster: <Cluster_name> are of different models. Respective models are: [ProLiant ABC Gen10, ProLiant XYZ Gen10]


• ESXi hosts in the affected cluster are a mix of different Hardware models.

Environment

VMware Cloud Foundation 5.2.2

Cause

• SDDC Manager does not support a cluster of heterogeneous hosts for image-based cluster.
• If a cluster is of truly heterogeneous hosts (different vendors or different generations with varying vendor add-ons), the cluster transition to Lifecycle Image is not supported.
• Transitioning a cluster to image-based management is only supported if the hosts meet the strict homogeneity requirements for vLCM images.

Resolution

The issue is resolved in VCF 9.x as this version supports non-homogenous hosts in a cluster. 

The issue is also addressed in the future VCF 5.2 release.

Workaround:

• Create a new, separate cluster within the existing workload domain (or a new vLCM-based workload domain) using only homogeneous hosts.
• If the cluster consists of ESXi hosts from the same Vendor but different generations or models, and the ESXi hosts are installed/upgraded using the same ISO, please reach out to Broadcom Support for further troubleshooting.

Additional Information

What Are the Requirements for Using vSphere Lifecycle Manager

Transition to vSphere Lifecycle Manager Images Using the SDDC Manager API