vSAN witness patching using vLCM fails with "Incompatible Error"
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vSAN witness patching using vLCM fails with "Incompatible Error"

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Article ID: 442841

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Updated On:

Products

VMware vSAN

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms

  • Attempting to patch existing vSAN Witness Node to a newer version (8.0.U3x) via vSphere Lifecycle Manager (vLCM).

  • The upload of the Witness Appliance .ova file to the vLCM repository fails with below error:

Environment

VMware vSAN 8.x
vCenter Server 8.x

Cause

The Witness Appliance .ova file is a deployment template designed for the creation of a new virtual appliance.
It is not an update bundle and cannot be used by vSphere Lifecycle Manager for an in-place upgrade of an existing Witness host. Because a vSAN Witness node runs on a standard ESXi hypervisor architecture, it requires the standard ESXi offline patch bundle for version updates.

Resolution

To successfully update the witness node without redeploying the appliance, use the standard ESXi offline patch bundle.

Step 1: Download the Correct Patch Bundle.

  1. Navigate to the Broadcom Support Portal.

  2. Go to My Downloads > VMware vSphere.

  3. Select the Solutions tab to find patch-specific builds.

  4. Download the standard ESXi Offline Bundle (a .zip file, e.g., VMware-ESXi-8.0U3x-depot.zip). Do not download the OVA or ISO for this process.

Step 2: Import into vSphere Lifecycle Manager

  1. In the vSphere Client, navigate to Lifecycle Manager > Image Depot > Updates.

  2. Click Import and select the downloaded ESXi offline patch bundle .zip file.

Step 3:Create the Baseline.

  1. Go to the Imported ISOs tab, select your ISO, and click New baseline.

  2. Name the baseline, set Content Type to Upgrade, and click Next.

  3. Select the imported ISO file, click Next, review the details, and click Finish.

Step 3: Attach & Check Compliance

  1. Navigate to Menu > Hosts and Clusters > vCenter > Datacenter.

  2. Select the vSAN witness host and go to the Updates tab.

  3. Under Attached Baselines, click Attach > Attach Baseline or Baseline Group.

  4. Select your new baseline and click Attach.

  5. Click Check Compliance (the status will update to Non-Compliant once finished).

Step 3: Remediate the Witness Host

  1. Place the vSAN Witness host into Maintenance Mode.

    • Note: Select "No Data Migration" when prompted, as the witness node does not store data components.

  2. Attach the patch baseline to the Witness host.

  3. Click Stage and then Remediate.

  4. Once the update is complete, verify the ESXi build version and exit Maintenance Mode.

Additional Information

Alternative: Upgrade via CLI

If prefer to use the command line, perform the upgrade directly on the Witness host:

  1. Upload the .zip bundle to a datastore accessible by the Witness host.

  2. Run the following command: esxcli software profile update -p <Profile_Name> -d /vmfs/volumes/<Datastore_Name>/<Patch_Bundle_Name>.zip.
Below is the reference KB article - Upgrading vSAN Witness Appliance Using CLI
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