9.1 VCF Installer fails on "vMotion Network Connectivity" check and/or "vSAN Network Connectivity"

Products

• VMware SDDC Manager / VCF Installer
• VMware Cloud Foundation

Issue/Introduction

• During VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9.1 deployment using the VCF Installer, pre-deployment validation checks fails with below error:
  
  

• The gateway (192.168.#.#) for the vMotion network is unreachable from host <host.example.com>.
• vmkping failed from ESXi host host.example.com to target IP 192.168.#.# on VLAN #### using an MTU size of 9000.
• /var/log/vmware/vcf/domainmanager/domainmanager.log gives below error:
  

   DEBUG [vcf_dm,0000000000000000,0000] [c.v.e.s.c.v.util.ResponseUtil,dm-exec-680]  Build validation response: {"errorCode":"NOT_RESPONDING_GATEWAY_FROM.warning","arguments":["192.168.#.#","VMOTION","host.example"],"context":{"severity":"WARNING","bundleName":"com.vmware.evo.sddc.common.validation.er
  rors.messages"},"message":"Gateway 192.168.#.# for VMOTION network is not responding from host.example","remediationMessage":"Verify the gateway is reachable and properly configured on the network"}
  DEBUG [vcf_dm,69d3f3fe3afbbc14de93c54de91dbb6b,49a8] [c.v.e.s.c.v.util.ResponseUtil,dm-exec-679]  Build validation response: {"errorCode":"SINGLE_PORTGROUP_VALIDATIONS.error","arguments":["VMOTION"],"context":{"severity":"ERROR","bundleName":"com.vmware.evo.sddc.common.validation.errors.messages","validation.taskId"
  :"0###3fd-9##e-1##5-8##d-63#######188"},"message":"Failed to validate connectivity of VMOTION network","remediationMessage":"Check input parameters for VMOTION network andverify hosts have connectivity on this network"}

Environment

VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0
VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1

Cause

The VCF Installer is not honoring the standby uplink and if the active vmnic is already in use by the VSS(vSwitch0), then the validation will fail.

Resolution

To continue with the deployment and maintain the ACTIVE/STANDBY configuration, skipping the network check can be done using the steps below:

1. Take a snapshot of SDDC Manager VM
2. Log in to the SDDC Manager via SSH using the vcf user credentials, then switch to the root user by running : su-
3. Update the application properties file of the domain manager service:

   echo "validation.disable.network.connectivity.check=true" >> /etc/vmware/vcf/domainmanager/application.properties

4. Restart the Domain Manager service:

   systemctl restart domainmanager

5. Re-run the validation checks

Alternatively, update deployment json and set both vmnics to ACTIVE/ACTIVE.

Additional Information

• For previous VCF versions see Skip vMotion validation for VMware Cloud Foundation workflows where vMotion connectivity is actually successful.
• To skip the Host ping test, see https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article/432391/skip-ping-connectivity-test-to-the-esxi.html
• To skip the vSAN network check see: https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article/399580/skip-vsan-connectivity-check-validation.html