Unable to upgrade vCenter Server Appliance using Reduced Downtime Upgrade due to Error - Failed to find the source vCenter in the Managing vCenter or ESXi host

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VCF Operations
• VMware Cloud Foundation

Issue/Introduction

vCenter Server Appliance Upgrade using the Reduced Downtime Upgrade (RDU) method fails with the following error:

Failed to find the source vCenter in the Managing vCenter or ESXi host <VC_FQDN>

The location of this vCenter Server cannot be determined, please specify the source location of the current vCenter Server managing this VC. ESXi host as a source container is not supported currently.

Environment

VMware Cloud Foundation
VMware vCenter Server

Cause

The vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA) is a pre-configured virtual appliance with a Virtual Hardware Version 10 (ESXi 5.5)

Any modification of the Virtual Hardware Version or VMware Tools on the vCenter Server Appliance is not supported:

Upgrading the hardware version or VMware Tools on vCenter Server

Resolution

Use the following steps to Restore the vCenter Server Appliance from a backup - File-Based Backup and Restore of vCenter Server

Additional Information

Upgrading a virtual machine to the latest hardware version (multiple versions)