Unable to change or remove SFTP settings in VCF Fleet Management Lifecycle UI

Products

• VCF Operations

Issue/Introduction

In VCF Operations 9.0.x, when attempting to update or remove SFTP settings and passwords within the Fleet Management > Lifecycle > VCF Management > Settings UI, you may find that the settings cannot be modified or that old passwords cannot be removed. Users often encounter this while trying to correct SFTP configurations to enable environment backups.

This is expected behavior. The SFTP configuration in this menu is designed to automatically push settings specifically to VCF Automation and VCF Identity Broker (VIDB) instances. These settings are not intended for the global backup configuration of core VCF infrastructure components like SDDC Manager, vCenter, or NSX.

Environment

• VCF Operations 9.0.x
• Fleet Management 9.0.x

Resolution

If you are unable to modify these settings or remove old passwords because you are trying to configure general environment backups, please use the intended configuration path:

1. SFTP settings in the Fleet Management >  Lifecycle path are only required if you are using VCF Automation or VCF Identity Broker. (**)
2. To set up backups for SDDC Manager, vCenter, and NSX, navigate to Administration > SDDC Manager > VCF Instance > Backup Settings.
3. Use the following link for the correct steps to configure the backup target for your specific VCF component: Backup and Restore of VMware Cloud Foundation.
4. Once the configuration is performed in the Administration path, you will be able to successfully schedule and run backups for the relevant infrastructure components.

Additional Information

In order to delete or clear SFTP settings in 9.0.x, this will require using the Fleet Management API. This procedure is not within the scope of this Knowledge Base article.

For more information about Fleet Management API, please reference:

How to Authorize VCF Operations Fleet Management API

APIs Broadcom Developer Documentation

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** In VCF 9.1, the transition to a containerized Management Services platform makes external SFTP server configuration a mandatory prerequisite for patching, upgrading, and scheduled backups. This architectural shift requires SFTP for file-based backups of core microservices, including Fleet and SDDC lifecycle, Software depot, and Salt components. Additionally, since VCF Identity Broker (VIDB) is now a default Day-0 component, SFTP configuration is essential to ensure the shared management platform is protected and operational for maintenance tasks.

After upgrading to 9.1, if you previously had incorrect settings for SFTP, you will now be able to update this configuration.

Configure SFTP Backup Location for VCF Automation and VCF Management Services