Deactivating Enhanced Linked Mode (ELM) via SDDC Manager API Fails with DOMAIN_UPDATE_SPEC_VALIDATION_NOT_SUPPORTED

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

When attempting to deactivate Enhanced Linked Mode (ELM) on VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9.1 by directly submitting the break ELM specification to the SDDC Manager API, the request fails with the following error:

PATCH /v1/domains/

{id}

{
 "breakElmSpec": {
     "isReconcileWorkflow": false
 }
}

{
  "errorCode": "DOMAIN_UPDATE_SPEC_VALIDATION_NOT_SUPPORTED",
  "message": "Validation not supported for the provided domain update specification."
}

Environment

VCF 9.x

Cause

In VCF 9.1, deactivating ELM is a strict multi-step workflow. The SDDC Manager API rejects validation or execution requests if the prerequisite offline backup acknowledgment has not been explicitly recorded on the domain object first.

Resolution

To successfully break ELM, complete the sequence in the exact order below:

 

1.Acknowledge Offline Backups:

Before validating or deactivating ELM, you must first confirm that offline backups of the environment have been prepared by patching the domain acknowledgment specification:

HTTP

 

PATCH /v1/domains/{id}

JSON

 

{
  "acknowledgmentSpec": {
    "ackThatOfflineBackupsTaken": true
  }
}

2.Validate ELM Deactivation:

Run the pre-validation check against the domain to confirm the ELM break workflow can proceed cleanly:

HTTP

 

POST /v1/domains/{id}/validations

JSON

 

{
  "breakElmSpec": {
    "isReconcileWorkflow": false
  }
}

After validation succeeds without errors, apply the final breakElmSpec payload to the domain endpoint to execute the deactivation(see step 3 below)


3.Execute ELM Deactivation:

HTTP

 

PATCH /v1/domains/{id}

JSON

 

{
  "breakElmSpec": {
    "isReconcileWorkflow": false
  }
}

 

Verification:

• Monitor the task execution in the SDDC Manager UI under Tasks / Workflows, or query the task status endpoint using the returned id:

  
  
  HTTP

   

  GET /v1/tasks/{taskId}
  

   

• Once completed, verify in vCenter Server that the SSO domain topology no longer displays linked replication partners.