VCF Deployment via SDDC Manager Installer fails with error "Password Policies Failed" for VCF Operations Cloud Proxy

Products

• VMware SDDC Manager / VCF Installer

Issue/Introduction

During the initial deployment of VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) via the SDDC Manager installer wizard, the validation phase fails. On validation page for deploying a new VCF Instance, UI displays an error similar to the following:

 

 

domainmanager.log shows the below error:

 

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

 

YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss DEBUG [vcf_dm,#####] [c.v.e.s.c.v.util.ResponseUtil,dm-exec-9]  Build validation response: {"errorCode":"PASSWORDS.error","arguments":["*****","Password must contain only letters, numbers and the following special characters: [@!#$%?^]"],"context":{"severity":"*****","bundleName":"com.vmware.evo.sddc.common.validation.errors.messages","validation.taskId":"#####"},"message":"Validation for VCF Operations Cloud Proxy User failed. Errors: Password must contain only letters, numbers and the following special characters: [@!#$%?^]"}

 

Environment

VMware SDDC Manager

Cause

This error occurs due to Password Policy Violation. The password assigned to the "ROOT" account contains unsupported special characters (e.g., "*", "&", "_", "-"). The installer strictly enforces a subset of special characters (@ ! # $ % ? ^).

 

Resolution

Follow the below steps to correct the password for affected component
Note: If the installer remains stuck in a "failed" state even after correcting the password, restart the "domainmanager" service or redeploy the SDDC Installer VM to clear the stale validation cache

1.  Identify the password currently assigned to the VCF Operations Cloud Proxy in your deployment spec or wizard.
2. Update the password to ensure it only uses the seven allowed special characters: @ ! # $ % ? ^
3. Avoid characters like underscores ("_"), hyphens ("-"), or asterisks ("*"), as these trigger the PASSWORD error during the password validation task.
4. Restart the validation process
   

Additional Information

If the validation fails repeatedly after changing the password, the SDDC Installer VM's internal database (PostgreSQL) may have reached an inconsistent state where they can no longer communicate with the local data source, preventing new credentials from being committed. In this case, remove the current VCF installer Virtual Machine and restart the process.