Add Host to Cluster fails with "InternalServerError" in SDDC / Missing Host NIC details in SDDC Manager UI

Products

• VMware SDDC Manager / VCF Installer

Issue/Introduction

• When attempting to add an ESXi host to a cluster via the SDDC Manager UI, the workflow fails at the Validation step.
  
  
• The SDDC Manager UI displays the following error banner: Call failed to validate add host. InternalServerError
  
  

• If validating via API /v1/clusters/{id}/validations to perform validation of the ClusterUpdateSpec, the response as well returns the below

_{{
    "errorCode": "PUBLIC_INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR",
    "arguments": [],
    "message": "InternalServerError",
    "causes": [
        {
            "type": "java.lang.NullPointerException",
            "message": "Cannot invoke \"java.util.List.stream()\" because the return value of \"com.vmware.evo.sddc.inventory.model.HostAttributes.getPhysicalNics()\" is null"
        }
    ]
}}

• /var/log/vmware/vcf/domainmanager/domainmanager.log:

_{yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss INFO  [vcf_dm,4314f0201ee64fa3,9ea6] [c.v.v.h.s.v.HostValidatorUtil,http-nio-127.0.0.1-7200-exec-6]  Validating the given spec VDS names [VDS_name] exist for cluster 
yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss INFO  [vcf_dm,4314f0201ee64fa3,9ea6] [c.v.v.h.s.v.HostValidatorUtil,http-nio-127.0.0.1-7200-exec-6]  Found VDSs on cluster: [VDS_name]
yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss INFO  [vcf_dm,4314f0201ee64fa3,9ea6] [c.v.v.h.s.v.HostValidatorUtil,http-nio-127.0.0.1-7200-exec-6]  Validating if the hosts can be added to cluster ####
yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss DEBUG [vcf_dm,4314f0201ee64fa3,9ea6] [c.v.v.h.s.v.HostSystemSpecValidator,http-nio-127.0.0.1-7200-exec-6]  Validate ESXi for cluster expansion workflow for ####
yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss INFO  [vcf_dm,4314f0201ee64fa3,9ea6] [c.v.v.h.s.v.HostValidatorUtil,http-nio-127.0.0.1-7200-exec-6]  Validating host specification for smartNic feature before cluster expansion
yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss.739 ERROR [vcf_dm,4314f0201ee64fa3,9ea6] [c.v.v.c.c.v1.ClusterController,http-nio-127.0.0.1-7200-exec-6]  Failed to validate ClusterUpdateSpec
java.lang.NullPointerException: Cannot invoke "java.util.List.stream()" because the return value of "com.vmware.evo.sddc.inventory.model.HostAttributes.getPhysicalNics()" is null
...      
...
yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss.744 DEBUG [vcf_dm,4314f0201ee64fa3,9ea6] [c.v.e.s.e.h.LocalizableRuntimeExceptionHandler,http-nio-127.0.0.1-7200-exec-6]  Processing localizable exception InternalServerError
yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss.744 ERROR [vcf_dm,4314f0201ee64fa3,9ea6] [c.v.e.s.e.h.LocalizableRuntimeExceptionHandler,http-nio-127.0.0.1-7200-exec-6]  [S1OODR] PUBLIC_INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR InternalServerError
com.vmware.evo.sddc.common.services.error.SddcManagerServicesIsException: InternalServerError
        at com.vmware.vcf.clustermanager.controller.v1.ClusterController.validateClusterOperations(ClusterController.java:2239)
        at jdk.internal.reflect.GeneratedMethodAccessor1415.invoke(Unknown Source)}

• When viewing the hosts in the SDDC Manager UI (under Inventory > Hosts), the Host NICs column is completely blank for the affected cluster, whereas hosts on the other cluster display the number of NICs:
  
  
  
  

Environment

VMware Cloud Foundation 5.x

Cause

This issue occurs when the ESXi host's physical network adapter (vmnic) information is entirely missing within the host table of the platform database in SDDC Manager.

Note: This differs from KB 436827, where NICs are present but link status or specific details are mismatched; in this scenario, the NIC data payload is completely absent from the platform database.

Resolution

To resolve this issue, contact Broadcom Support for assistance with updating the missing host inventory details in the SDDC Manager database.