Datastore Type Display Inconsistency in SDDC Manager for one or multiple host

Products

• VMware Cloud Foundation

Issue/Introduction

In VMware Cloud Foundation environments, a reporting inconsistency may be observed within the SDDC Manager dashboard regarding the Principal Storage datastore type. While all hosts in a cluster are configured for VMFS on Fibre Channel (FC), the inventory display may show a "blank" or "null" status for specific hosts typically those added during the initial build-up while newly added hosts correctly report the type as "FC."

This article provides clarification on the database metadata responsible for this discrepancy and confirms that the behavior is cosmetic, posing no risk to the functional health or lifecycle management of the environment.

Environment

VMware cloud foundation 5.0 and later

Cause

This issue is caused by a discrepancy in the internal validation logic within the VCF inventory schema. The SDDC Manager UI and API are programmed to populate the datastore type field only when specific metadata strings are present (e.g., VSAN, NFS, VMFS_FC, or VVOL).

During certain lifecycle stages, such as the initial bring-up, some hosts are registered in the Postgres database with the configuration status VMFS instead of the explicit VMFS_FC tag. Because VMFS is not included in the hardcoded list of display strings, the system returns a null or blank value in the management interface.

This is a cosmetic reporting behavior and does not indicate a functional issue with the principal storage.

Resolution

No manual intervention or database modification is required.

As the underlying storage remains fully accessible and operational, this reporting inconsistency does not impact system health, storage performance, or future lifecycle management tasks (such as upgrades and patching). The blank status can be safely ignored.