VCF upgrade precheck fails with "vCenter backup location" error

Products

• VMware SDDC Manager / VCF Installer

Issue/Introduction

• During a VCF upgrade precheck, the validation fails with below error:
  
  ERROR, VCManager, <vcenter-fqdn>, vCenter backup location, VALIDATION_FAILED,
High: Do not perform upgrade without addressing this issue.


• SDDC Manager /var/log/vmware/vcf/lcm/lcm.log shows error
  
  ERROR [lcm] [VCManager] <vcenter-fqdn> vCenter backup location VALIDATION_FAILED High: Do not perform upgrade without addressing this issue.


• The vCenter server VAMI page (https://<vcenter-fqdn>:5480) displays backup status as Error or Failed.
• Network connection attempts (e.g., ping) from the vCenter server SSH console to the configured SFTP backup server time out.

Environment

VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0.x

Cause

The vCenter server cannot establish network connectivity to the configured SFTP backup server, causing backup tasks to fail and blocking the VCF upgrade precheck.

Resolution

To resolve this issue, restore network connectivity to the configured SFTP backup target or update the vCenter server backup location to an accessible server, then verify with a manual backup:

1. Resolve network reachability issues between the vCenter server and the SFTP server, or update the backup location to an accessible SFTP server under Backup > Configure.

2. Open an SSH session to the vCenter server and verify network connectivity to the backup target:
   
   ping <sftp-server-ip>


3. Run a manual backup from the vCenter server management interface to confirm completion.

4. Re-run the VCF upgrade precheck.