ESXi Image Selection is empty during the Workload Domain Creation in VCF Operations

Products

• VCF Operations
• VMware SDDC Manager / VCF Installer
• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

• When creating a Workload (WLD) domain through SDDC Manager or VCF Operations (VC-OPS), the ESXi image selection list is empty or missing expected versions.
  
  
  
  
• Unable to create or see new ESXi images in vCenter Server Lifecycle Manager (vLCM). This behavior occurs in environments configured with an offline depot for VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) bundles.
  
  
  
  
  

Environment

• VCF Operations 9.x
• SDDC Manager 9.x
• VMware vCenter Server 9.x 

Cause

This issue occurs when the offline depot is configured in SDDC Manager, but the corresponding repository configuration is missing from the vCenter Server Lifecycle Manager. Because vLCM lacks the offline UMDS depot as a download source, it cannot synchronize the image metadata or bundles required for image creation and management.

Resolution

To resolve this issue, manually configure the vCenter Server Lifecycle Manager to use the offline UMDS depot as a download source Configure vCenter Server to use offline UMDS

Step 1: Configure vCenter Server Lifecycle Manager

1. Log in to the vSphere Client with administrator credentials.
2. Navigate to Menu > Lifecycle Manager.
3. Go to the Settings tab and select Download Sources.
4. Click New to add a new source.
5. Enter the offline depot URL.
   • URL Format: https://[HOSTNAME]/vmware/vcf/umds/patch-store/hostupdate/__hostupdate20-consolidated-index__.xml
   • Note: Replace [HOSTNAME] with the FQDN of your UMDS server.
6. Click Save.

Step 2: Synchronize Updates

1. In the Lifecycle Manager view, click the Actions dropdown menu.
2. Select Sync Updates and monitor the task until it completes.
3. Verify that the ESXi version (e.g., 9.0.2.0.25148076) now appears in the Image Depot.

Step 3: Create and Import Image

1. In vCenter, create the desired image using the synchronized ESXi version.
2. In SDDC Manager, navigate to Lifecycle Management > Image Management.
3. Import the newly created image from the vCenter inventory.
4. The image should now populate correctly during the Workload Domain creation workflow.