Adding an ESXi Host to Cluster using SDDC workflow fails with error "Failed to add host ####### to Datacenter datacenter-#"

Products

• VMware SDDC Manager / VCF Installer
• VMware vSphere ESXi 8.0
• VMware vCenter Server 8.0

Issue/Introduction

• Attempts to add a new ESXi host to an existing cluster in VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) via SDDC manager may fail with an error like below in the UI: 

• When reviewing the domainmanager.log entries similar to the following can be seen: 

  ERROR [vcf_dm,######################] [c.v.e.s.o.model.error.ErrorFactory,dm-exec-3]  [#######] VSPHERE_ADD_HOST_TO_DATACENTER_FAILED Failed to add host <esxi_fqdn> to Datacenter datacenter-<id>
  com.vmware.evo.sddc.orchestrator.exceptions.OrchTaskException: Failed to add host <esxi_fqdn> to Datacenter datacenter-<id>

• and/or:

  Caused by: com.vmware.vim.binding.vim.fault.NoHost: Cannot contact the specified host (<esxi_fqdn>). The host may not be available on the network, a network configuration problem may exist, or the management services on this host may not be responding.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 8.0.x 

VMware SDDC Manager 5.x 

Cause

This error can occur if the required network ports are not open the vCenter Server and the ESXi host for communication. 

Resolution

To prevent this error, please ensure that all required ports as outlined in VMware Ports and Protocols are open between vCenter Server, ESXi and SDDC Manager.

At the very minimum these will be the following ports:

• TCP 80 (HTTP)
• TCP 443 (HTTPS)
• UDP 902 (Heartbeats)

These ports are needed for basic connectivity, additional ports will be required for other features - please refer to the above link for the complete list.

Additional Information

Similar Issue: Error 'Cannot Contact the Specified Host' When Adding an ESXi Host to vCenter Server