VCF 9.1 Deployment Fails: NFS Datastore Configuration Validation Fails on ESXi Hosts with a Single pNIC

Products

• VCF Operations

Issue/Introduction

• VCF 9.1 Deployment Fails: NFS Datastore Configuration Validation Fails on ESXi Hosts with a Single pNIC
• When attempting to deploy VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) on ESXi hosts equipped with a single physical network interface card (pNIC), the deployment halts at the NFS Datastore Configuration validation step.
• You will encounter the following error message :

NFS datastore mount failed on host <hostname>: An error occurred during host configuration

 

Environment

Product: VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF)
Version: 9.1
Hardware Setup: ESXi hosts configured with a single pNIC.

Cause

• This issue occurs because the built-in validation check in VCF 9.1 expects multiple physical NICs for redundancy purposes.
• If it detects only a single pNIC configuration, it incorrectly flags the setup as invalid, preventing the deployment from proceeding even if the underlying NFS connectivity is functioning correctly.

Resolution

Workaround :

To resolve this issue, you must manually verify that the NFS datastores are accessible from all ESXi hosts, and then configure the VCF Installer to skip the failing NFS connectivity validation check.

Prerequisite: Ensure that your NFS datastores are properly configured and fully accessible by all ESXi hosts involved in the deployment.

Steps to bypass the validation check:

Open an SSH session to the VCF Installer appliance.

Switch to the root user:

su -

Run the following command to add the validation disable flag to the application properties file:

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

Restart the domain manager service to apply the new configuration:

systemctl restart domainmanager

Wait approximately 60 seconds for the domain manager service to fully restart and initialize.

Return to the VCF Installer UI and retry the deployment. The validation step should now be skipped, allowing the process to continue.