Unable to Create SDDC Cluster with ESXi Version 9.0.0. Error in Add cluster Wizard "No unassigned hosts available with storage type VSAN. Commission hosts with at-least one physical NIC to Add Cluster from UI."

Products

• VMware SDDC Manager
• VMware Cloud Foundation

Issue/Introduction

• An attempt to add a new cluster to a Workload Domain (WLD) fails with an error indicating "No unassigned hosts available with storage type VSAN.  Commission hosts with at-least one physical NIC to Add Cluster from UI."
• The vCenter Server (VC) and NSX-T components managing the Workload Domain have been upgraded to 9.x.
• This issue occurs despite having unassigned hosts 9.0.0 available because the hosts in the WLD are running ESXi version 8.0.3, while the API calls initiated by SDDC Manager are requesting compatible hosts with ESXi version 9.x. The host compatibility check runs and prevents the addition of the cluster.

Environment

VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0

VMware SDDC Manager 9.0

Cause

• This behavior is expected due to a version mismatch between the controlling infrastructure components and the hosts within the specific Workload Domain.
• SDDC Manager, when attempting to add a new cluster, performs a host compatibility check based on the upgraded versions of the VC and NSX.
• The API request sent by the SDDC Manager UI for unassigned hosts in this WLD is therefore expecting a host ESXi version of 9.x (e.g., esxiVersion=9), even though the existing cluster hosts are at 8.0.3.

  Example of API Request for Unassigned Hosts (WLD): Log location in SDDC Manager var/log/vmware/vcf/sddc-manager-ui-app/access.log
  <sddc_manager_IP> - "GET /ui/api/v1/hosts?status=UNASSIGNED_USEABLE&storageType=VSAN,VSAN_REMOTE&esxiVersion=9"

• Since all available unassigned hosts are at 8.0.3, the check finds zero compatible hosts, resulting in the reported error. There is no viable workaround to bypass this essential compatibility check.

Resolution

There are two options to resolve this issue and proceed with the new cluster creation, depending on the desired target state of the Workload Domain:

 

Option 1: Fully Upgrade the Workload Domain (WLD) to 9.x

The recommended approach is to bring the entire WLD up to the expected 9.x version, thereby making the hosts compatible with the upgraded VC and NSX versions.

1. Fully upgrade the default cluster's hosts in the WLD to 9.0.x
2. Once the default cluster is upgraded, the SDDC Manager UI or vCenter UI will correctly look for and assign 9.x hosts to the new cluster.
   
   To identify the default cluster in the WLD:
   
   
   1. SSH to the SDDC Manager using the vcf user.
   2. Elevate privileges to the root user: su -
   3. Run the following psql command to list all default clusters:

      psql -h localhost -U postgres -d platform -c "select id,name,is_default from cluster where is_default='t'"

      
      
      Review the output and match the name with the Workload Domain's cluster in vCenter where the new cluster creation is failing.

 

Option 2: Create the New Cluster in same Workload Domain with the Host version 8.0.3.

 

This option allows the new cluster creation to proceed immediately by manually requesting the host version that matches the existing hosts in the WLD.

 

Note: This option is temporary. To maintain a consistent and supported state, the hosts in this new cluster will still need to be upgraded to 9.x after creation.