VCF Automation upgrade to 9.1 failing with: "Platform Health Check Error : vcfa-services-prelude-health-reporter-http : Unexpected status code: 500"
Article ID: 445505
Updated On:
Products
Issue/Introduction
A VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) Automation upgrade to version 9.1 fails during the pre-validation lifecycle phase. The VCF deployment interface returns the following fatal failure block: Platform Health Check Error : vcfa-services-prelude-health-reporter-http : Unexpected status code: 500. The upgrade process remains blocked at this stage.
Review of the platform platform backup layer logs isolates the exact connection drop during negotiation. Command output from: kubectl logs <backup-pod-name> -n vmsp-platform records:
Failed to create file system for destination "sftp:/mnt/ent0_backups/vmware_backups/vcf_ops_fleet_backups/": NewFs: couldn't connect SSH: ssh: handshake failed: ssh: unable to authenticate, attempted methods [none sword keyboard-interactive], no supported methods remain
This failure loop verifies that the system cannot mount the destination paths required.
Environment
VCF 9.x
Cause
The upgrade engine is blocked due to a misconfigured or unauthenticated Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) backup destination profile. During platform boot pre-checks, the platform attempts to validate the integrity of the automated data protection target; if the SSH handshake fails because of an expired password, account lockout, or altered authentication method on the remote storage array, the health reporter service terminates unexpectedly.
Resolution
Log in to the target SFTP storage server outside of the VCF suite and confirm that the dedicated support service account is active, unlocked, and that credentials match current profiles.
In the VCF management interface, navigate to the backup destination settings and re-enter the valid administrative username and password/key parameters.
Commit a manual backup pass to confirm the connection loop passes cleanly before restarting the 9.1 upgrade track.
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