VCF Install Validation Fails with "No vSAN ESA certified disks found"

Products

• VMware SDDC Manager / VCF Installer

Issue/Introduction

• During a VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9.x installation on hosts, deployment validation fails.
• The VCF Installer reports the following errors:
  • Host [Hostname] is not HCL compatible.
  • No vSAN ESA certified disks found on the ESXi Host [Hostname].

Environment

VCF 9.x

Cause

The error occurs because the storage controller or disk configuration may not meet the strict hardware requirements for vSAN ESA.

If the hardware is certified for the Original Storage Architecture (OSA) but not ESA, the validation will fail during an ESA-targeted deployment.

Resolution

To resolve this validation failure, switch the deployment type from vSAN ESA to vSAN OSA:

1. Restart the VCF Installer or Cloud Builder workflow.
2. Navigate to the Storage Configuration section of the deployment wizard.
3. Select vSAN OSA (Original Storage Architecture) as the vSAN type instead of vSAN ESA.
4. Proceed with the validation steps; the installer will now validate the disks against OSA compatibility standards.
5. Complete the VCF bring-up process using the OSA configuration.

 

Additional Information

Always verify your hardware against the Broadcom Compatibility Guide to ensure the specific disk models and controllers are certified for your chosen architecture (OSA vs. ESA).