VCF Instance Recovery to Environment with Different IP/FQDN is Not Supported

Products

• VMware SDDC Manager

Issue/Introduction

When attempting to restore a VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) backup to ESXi hosts that have different IP addresses or FQDNs than the source environment, the recovery process fails. Common symptoms include:

• SSH key updates (refreshsshkeys.pyc) fail.

• Inventory mismatches persist in SDDC Manager, NSX Manager, and vCenter Server.

• System-wide communication and validation errors occur.

Environment

VMware Cloud Foundation

Cause

VCF backup data contains metadata (IPs, FQDNs, and UUIDs) in its internal databases. The Instance Recovery process is designed to restore data to an infrastructure that is identical to the source. It is not a tool for migration or cloning to a new network configuration.

Resolution

Restoring a VCF backup to an environment with different IP addresses or FQDNs is not supported.

VCF Instance Recovery requires the target infrastructure to have the exact same IP addresses and FQDNs as the original environment. Do not attempt to use the recovery workflow to map a backup onto a different network configuration.

For hardware replacement or migration to new IP/FQDNs, use the standard VCF Commission and Expand Cluster workflows on a running instance instead.