VCF Deployment Fails with Locator Error Due to Resource Pool Changes | Error: Locator does not refer to an object

Products

• VMware Cloud Foundation

Issue/Introduction

• During the deployment of VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) components, including VCF Fleet Manager, NSX Managers, VMware Aria Operations, and VMware Aria Automation, the task fails during the OVA deployment phase. This typically occurs in brownfield scenarios where an existing vCenter is being imported or managed.
• The SDDC Manager logs will show an ovftool failure:

/var/log/vmware/vcf/domainmanager/domainmanager.log

ERROR [vcf_dm,...] Local command /iso_store/ovftool/ovftool ... failed with exit value 1

LocalProcess INFO: Error: Locator does not refer to an object: vi://<user>@<vcsa-fqdn>/<DC>/host/<Cluster>/Resources/<Resource-Pool-Name>

LocalProcess INFO: Completed with errors

Environment

VCF 9.x

Cause

The VCF deployment engine maps a specific inventory path for the target Resource Pool at the beginning of the orchestration. If an administrator renames, moves, or deletes this Resource Pool in vCenter after the task has started or during a retry attempt, the ovftool "Locator" path becomes invalid.

The deployment fails because it can no longer find the designated container for the management virtual machines.

Resolution

The vCenter inventory must be restored to match the path expected by the SDDC Manager:

1. Identify the Expected Resource Pool: Review the domainmanager.log or the failed task details in the SDDC Manager UI.
1. Locate the string following /Resources/ in the error message (e.g., <Resource>-<Pool>001).
2. Correct the vCenter Inventory:
1. If Moved: Move the Resource Pool back to the original Cluster or parent Resource Pool location.
2. If Renamed: Rename the Resource Pool to match the exact string found in the log.
3. If Deleted: Recreate the Resource Pool with the exact name in the target cluster.
3. Verify Permissions: Ensure the service account used by SDDC Manager (e.g., svc-sddc-mgmt-vcsa) has "Read" and "Assign Virtual Machine to Resource Pool" permissions on the restored object.
4. Retry Deployment: Restart the failed task from the SDDC Manager dashboard.

Additional Information

This is expected behavior when manual inventory changes conflict with automated orchestration paths. To avoid this in the future, do not modify the names or hierarchy of VCF-managed Resource Pools or Folders while deployment tasks are in progress.