Pre-check failures during vCenter 9.0.2 upgrade via Fleet Manager on multiple ESXi hosts

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VCF Operations

Issue/Introduction

• While performing a vCenter Server upgrade to version 9.0.2 using the Fleet Manager > lifecycle, following pre-check errors are observed across the ESXi environment:

  • Vpxa service is not running on the host.

  • ESXi storage system check failed on host with error: `Cannot invoke "com.vmware.vcf.baseliner.input" because "productData" is null.`

  • Missing host from the SDDC Manager inventory.

  • ESXi host connection could not be established.

  • Internal error during third-party VIBs validation: `java.lang.NullPointerException`

• Manual inspection of the affected ESXi hosts via SSH using the below command confirmed that the vpxa service was healthy and running: /etc/init.d/vpxa status

Environment

VMware Cloud Foundation 9.x

Cause

• The pre-check failures originate from an inventory discrepancy between the SDDC Manager and the VCF Operations/vCenter where the affected cluster and its associated ESXi hosts are missing from the SDDC Manager inventory.

Resolution

• Log in to the VCF operations.
• Navigate to Inventory > Expand VCF instance > Select the affected Domain.
• Click on Actions > Inventory sync
• Log in to SDDC manager and ensure the cluster and all associated ESXi hosts are correctly registered in the SDDC Manager inventory to allow the Fleet Manager vCenter upgrade pre-checks to complete successfully.

Additional Information

To retrieve the SDDC Manager FQDN and IP address if they are unknown, perform the following API call within the VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) Operations interface:

1. Log in to the VCF Operations UI.
2. Navigate to Developer Center > APIs & SDKs > SDDC Manager APIs.
3. Locate the Sddcmanagers section and select the following endpoint: GET /v1/sddc-managers.
4. Expand the API section and click Execute.
5. Review the Response Body to identify the SDDC Manager details.