vCenter deployment failing on VCF Installer with the error : vCenter installation failed.

Products

• VMware SDDC Manager / VCF Installer

Issue/Introduction

• VCF 9 installer returns the following error message

vCenter installation failed. Check logs under /var/log/vmware/vcf/domainmanager/cli-installer-<date_and_time> for more details.

• /var/log/vmware/vcf/domainmanager/cli-installer-<date_and_time>/workflow_<xxxxx>/vcsa-cli-installer.log, on SDDC Manager :
  
  YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ - vCSACliInstallLogger - ERROR - Exception message: Host seeding failed:(vmodl.MethodFault) {
        key = 'com.vmware.vcint.error_from_vlcm',
         arg = (vmodl.KeyAnyValue) [
            (vmodl.KeyAnyValue) {
               dynamicType = <unset>,
               dynamicProperty = (vmodl.DynamicProperty) [],
               key = 'vlcm_error',
               value = 'Error:\n   com.vmware.vapi.std.errors.error\nMessages:\n   com.vmware.vcIntegrity.lifecycle.EsxImage.SoftwareInfoExtractError<An error occurred while extracting image info on the host.>\n   com.vmware.vcIntegrity.lifecycle.ExtractDepotTask.HostExtractDepotFailed<Extraction of image from host <ESXi_FQDN> failed.>\n'
            }
         ],
         message = "An internal error occurred: 'Error:\n   com.vmware.vapi.std.errors.error\nMessages:\n   com.vmware.vcIntegrity.lifecycle.EsxImage.SoftwareInfoExtractError<An error occurred while extracting image info on the host.>\n   com.vmware.vcIntegrity.lifecycle.ExtractDepotTask.HostExtractDepotFailed<Extraction of image from host <ESXi_FQDN> failed.>\n'"
      }
   ]
}

• /var/run/log/lifecycle.log, on ESX host :
  
  YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ -DEBUG lifecycle 2158642 [esx@4413] ImageProfile:1177 Removing reserved Component VMware-VM-Tools_13.1.0-0.25370933 in ImageProfile (Updated) ESXi-9.1.0.0100-25433460-standard
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ -DEBUG lifecycle 2158642 [esx@4413] HostSeeding:993 BaseImage details : 9.1.0.0100.25433460, ESXi, 9.1.0.0100.25433460, YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ -ERROR lifecycle 2158642 [esx@4413] HostSeeding:856 BaseImg Comps are removed: {'MRVL-E3-Ethernet-iSCSI-FCoE', 'MRVL-E4-CNA-Driver-Bundle'}
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ -ERROR lifecycle 2158642 [esx@4413] HostSeeding:1048 Software info extract errors: The following Components have been removed on the host: MRVL-E3-Ethernet-iSCSI-FCoE, MRVL-E4-CNA-Driver-Bundle

Environment

VCF Installer 9.x

Cause

The host was installed using custom ISO and then patched with default VMware image for version using Direct Console (iLO, iDRAC, etc.), which led to removal of vendor specific VIBs which were present on the host base image.

Resolution

1. Reinstall the host using custom image.
2. Restart the deployment using the VCF installer.
3. Remediate the host using lifecycle, refer : Remediate ESX in VCF 9.1

Additional Information

VCF 9 vCenter installation failed. Check logs under /var/log/vmware/vcf/domainmanager/cli-installer-<date_and_time> for more details