vCenter Upgrade Failure from 8.0.2 to 8.0.3 Due to Supervisor Version Compatibility Constraints

Products

• VMware SDDC Manager

Issue/Introduction

When attempting to upgrade vCenter Server from version 8.0.2 to 8.0.3, the upgrade process fails and presents the following compatibility error:

[c.v.v.c.v.i.CompatibilityControllerAggregator,Scheduled-2] 
The product SDDC_MANAGER source version {"version":"5.2.###"} 
is not upgradable to: {"productType":"SDDC_MANAGER","version":{"version":"9.0.0.0-#####"}}

2025-11-08T00:00:08.0 ERROR [#####] 
[c.v.v.c.c.s.i.CompatibilityValidatorClientImpl,Scheduled-2] 
Found incompatible upgrade paths: 
[(ProductTypeVersion(productType=SDDC_MANAGER, version=5.2.2.0-#####),
  ProductTypeVersion(productType=SDDC_MANAGER, version=9.0.0.0-#####))]

Cause

The upgrade failure is caused by a Supervisor Cluster version compatibility mismatch.

• vCenter 8.0 Update 2e supports Kubernetes versions up to v1.27.
• vCenter 8.0 Update 3g requires a minimum Kubernetes Supervisor version of v1.28.

Since the environment’s Supervisor is currently running v1.27, the upgrade path to 8.0 Update 3g is not permitted.

Resolution

1. Upgrade vCenter Server to an intermediate version compatible with Supervisor v1.27.

2. Once vCenter is running a version that aligns with the current Supervisor release, proceed to upgrade the Supervisor Cluster to v1.28 or higher.

3. After the Supervisor has been upgraded, the system will meet compatibility requirements, and the upgrade to vCenter Server 8.0 Update 3g can be completed successfully.