VCF VI Workload Domain creation fails with "Invalid Input" error

Products

• VMware SDDC Manager

Issue/Introduction

• When attempting to create a new VI Workload Domain (VI WLD) in VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF), the process fails immediately upon clicking the Finish button in the deployment wizard. A red "Invalid Input" banner appears at the top of the SDDC Manager interface.
  
  
  
  
• Reviewing the /var/log/vmware/vcf/domainmanager/domainmanager.log shows the following log snippets: 

[YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS] ERROR [vcf_dm,9c94d2##########,e9f2] [c.v.e.s.c.v.i.LocalizableAnnotationValidationUtil,http-nio-127.0.0.1-7200-exec-6]  Spec violation DM_VCENTERROOTPASSWORD_PATTERN
[YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS] ERROR [vcf_dm,9c94d2##########,e9f2] [c.v.e.s.e.h.LocalizableRuntimeExceptionHandler,http-nio-127.0.0.1-7200-exec-6]  [UO4S8] REST_INVALID_API_INPUT Invalid input
com.vmware.evo.sddc.common.core.error.CompositeInvalidInputException: Invalid input
        at com.vmware.evo.sddc.exception.handler.MethodArgumentNotValidExceptionHandler.handleMethodArgumentNotValidException(MethodArgumentNotValidExceptionHandler.java:54)
        at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)

Cause

Although the SDDC manager accepts the existing vCenter password, the underlying backend services rejects the deployment if the vCenter password fails to satisfy the following complexity and security requirements:

• Length: Password must contain at least 8 characters and no more than 20 characters.

• Spaces: Password must not contain any spaces.

• Character Variety: Password must contain at least one lowercase character, one uppercase character, one digit, and one special character.

• Dictionary Check: Password must not contain dictionary words.

• Special Character Compatibility: Certain special characters (such as semicolons ;, single quotes ', or backslashes \) can cause internal processing errors during the automated deployment of the vCenter Server.

Refer - Password restrictions for SDDC root password

Resolution

Update the vCenter root password to comply with all VCF validation requirements:

1. Modify the Password in the Wizard: Navigate back to the vCenter Details section of the VI Workload wizard.

2. Apply Compliant Credentials: Input a new password that adheres to the 8–20 character limit and includes the required character types.

   • Recommended: Use standard special characters like @, !, _, or -.

   • Action: Ensure no dictionary words are used and all complex symbols (like ; or ') are removed.

3. Complete the Deployment: Proceed through the remaining wizard steps and click Finish. Once a compliant password is provided, the validation check will succeed, and the Workload Domain creation task will initialize in the SDDC Manager task list.