Upgrading to VCF 9.0 requires Distributed Switch as a minimum requirement/component

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

If you have only standard switches on your ESXi hosts in vCenter and are considering an upgrade to VCF 9.x, you must first create a DVS as a prerequisite.

Environment

VMware NSX

vCenter

Cause

You only have standard switches for ESXi hosts on VCF 8.0 or later and are considering upgrading to VCF 9.x. You won't be able to upgrade without creating a DVS with an ephemeral port group for the management port/vmkernel.

Resolution

• If you have only standard switches on your ESXi hosts in vCenter and are considering an upgrade to VCF 9.x, you must first create a DVS as a prerequisite.
• Please follow this techdoc for supported configurations section for Network and other components for upgrading to VCF 9.0.
  • Import an Existing vCenter to Create a Workload Domain

Additional Information

• SDDC Manager and NSX (which is a core component of VCF) rely on the VDS to programmatically manage networking, security, and traffic policies across the entire stack.
• Standard switches (VSS) do not support the APIs and centralized management that VCF automation requires.