vCenter RDU upgrade fails during appliance deployment due to DNS configuration errors

Products

• VMware vCenter Server 8.0

Issue/Introduction

During the Reduced Downtime Upgrade (RDU) process, the deployment of the new target vCenter Server appliance fails. The process times out during the "firstboot" stage, specifically during the VMware Authentication Framework startup.

Users will observe the following errors in the /var/log/vmware/vlcm/vlcm.log

• Failed to run vdcpromo
• Appliance deployment status '{"state":"FAILED"..."subtasks":[{"key":"firstboot","value":{..."status":"FAILED"}}]}
• vcenter.deployment.migration_upgrade.target_deployment_failed_error
• Wait configure failed: waitConfigured: retry: limit reached

Environment

• vCenter Server 8.x

Cause

The RDU process deploys a new vCenter Server appliance that must communicate with the source vCenter. Incorrect DNS configuration prevents the source and destination appliances from resolving each other's Host Fully Qualified Domain Names (FQDNs). This network resolution failure leads to a timeout during the promotion of the new vCenter (vdcpromo) and the failure of the VMware Authentication Framework to start.

Resolution

Validate DNS Records: 

• Ensure that both Forward and Reverse (PTR) DNS records exist for the source vCenter FQDN and the temporary IP/FQDN assigned to the new target appliance.

Verify Resolution:

• From a machine on the same management network, perform nslookup or dig commands to verify that all FQDNs resolve to the correct IP addresses.

Cleanup Failed Deployment:

• Manually delete the failed target vCenter appliance VM from the inventory.

Restart Upgrade:

1. Cancel the current upgrade process.
2. Ensure the DNS server utilized by the vCenter appliances is reachable and contains the correct entries.
3. Restart the RDU process from the beginning.

Additional Information

If the DNS settings are correct and the issue persists, collect a support bundle from the source vCenter and the partially deployed target vCenter for further analysis.