SDDC Manager Blocked from VCF 9.0.2 Plan Upgrade Due to NSX Advanced Load Balancer Incompatibility

Products

• VMware SDDC Manager / VCF Installer
• VMware Cloud Foundation
• VMware Avi Load Balancer

Issue/Introduction

When attempting to select the **VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0.2** "Plan Upgrade" in SDDC Manager, the operation is blocked by an interoperability error. The system displays a message indicating that the target VCF components are not compatible with the current version of the NSX Advanced Load Balancer (AVI).

Cannot upgrade to VCF version 9.0.2.0 for domain [domain-id] in a compatible way: not upgradable: ; not interoperable: ESX_HOST 9.0.2.0.25148076 -> VCENTER 8.0.3.00700-25092719, VCENTER 9.0.2.0.25148086 -> NSX_ALB 22.1.6, NSX_T_MANAGER 9.0.2.0.25150386 -> NSX_ALB 22.1.6. If you have Standalone Host(s), please follow https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article?articleNumber=384976 to upgrade/patch them out of band through vCenter Server

Environment

• VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0.2
• VMware SDDC Manager
• VMware AVI Load Balancer 22.1.6

Cause

The issue occurs because the existing version of the NSX Advanced Load Balancer (e.g., version 22.1.6) is not compatible with the VCF 9.0.2 Bill of Materials (BOM). SDDC Manager performs a pre-selection compatibility check to ensure all components in the workload domain can interoperate with the target release. If a critical component like the AVI Load Balancer is outside the supported range for VCF 9.0.2, the upgrade plan selection is disabled to prevent environment instability.

Resolution

To resolve this issue, upgrade the VMware AVI Load Balancer to a compatible version before initiating the VCF 9.0.2 upgrade plan in SDDC Manager.

Follow the below steps:

1. Verify Compatibility: Use the VMware Interoperability Matrix to identify the target version for NSX Advanced Load Balancer that is compatible with VCF 9.0.2 components (SDDC Manager 9.0.2, vCenter 9.0.2, NSX 9.0.2, and ESXi 9.0.2).
2. Perform AVI Load Balancer Upgrade: Upgrade the VMware AI Load Balancer to a supported version (e.g., version 31.2.1). Refer Upgrading Avi Load Balancer Controller using UI
3. Refresh SDDC Manager: After the load balancer upgrade is complete, return to the SDDC Manager UI and confirm Avi Load Balancer version is matching with the upgraded version as performed in Step # 2.
4. Select Upgrade Plan: Navigate to the workload domain, click Updates and select Plan Upgrade.
5. Validation: The VCF 9.0.2 target version should now be selectable without interoperability blockers.

Note: If the upgrade plan remains blocked, ensure that other components—including standalone hosts and vCenter servers—are not subject to back-in-time upgrade restrictions as outlined in KB 430825