Cannot find specific vCenter, ESXi, or NSX versions to proceed with upgrade in SDDC Manager.

Products

• VMware SDDC Manager / VCF Installer

Issue/Introduction

When attempting to upgrade components (such as vCenter or ESXi to 8.0 U3k, or NSX to 4.2.4.1) using the Flexible BOM feature in VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 5.2, the desired versions do not appear in the "Change Version" dropdown menu on the Plan Upgrade screen.
Additionally, the corresponding patch bundles are missing from the Bundle Management catalog, and clicking "Check for Updates" does not populate them, even in an environment with verified internet connectivity.

Environment

 

• VMware Cloud Foundation 5.2.x

• SDDC Manager 5.2.x

 

Cause

This issue happens when the SDDC Manager configuration file (application-prod.properties) has a typo or points to an outdated folder path for the update catalog.
Because the system is strictly case-sensitive, even a small typo in the configuration (such as using Manager instead of MANAGER) prevents SDDC Manager from downloading the latest list of available updates from the Broadcom depot.

Resolution

To resolve this issue, you must correct the catalog paths in the LCM properties file and restart the LCM service.

1. SSH into the SDDC Manager appliance using the vcf user and switch to the root user.

2. Create a backup of the LCM production properties file:

   cp /opt/vmware/vcf/lcm/lcm-app/conf/application-prod.properties /opt/vmware/vcf/lcm/lcm-app/conf/application-prod.properties.bak
   

3. Open the file in a text editor (e.g., vi):

   vi /opt/vmware/vcf/lcm/lcm-app/conf/application-prod.properties
   

4. Locate the LCM PRODUCT VERSION CATALOG DOWNLOAD PROPERTIES section. Find the following legacy path:

   lcm.depot.adapter.remote.lcmProductVersionCatalogDir=/evo/vmw/lcm/productVersionCatalog
   

   Modify it to the correct active path:

   lcm.depot.adapter.remote.lcmProductVersionCatalogDir=/COMP/SDDC_MANAGER_VCF/lcm/productVersionCatalog

5. Scroll down to the end of the LCM DEPOT PROPERTIES section. If a duplicate entry exists with a typo (such as a lowercase "anager"), delete the entire line:

   lcm.depot.adapter.remote.lcmProductVersionCatalogDir=/COMP/SDDC_Manager_VCF/lcm/productVersionCatalog
   

6. Save and close the file.

7. Restart the LCM service to apply the changes:

   systemctl restart lcm
   

8. Wait 3–5 minutes for the service to initialize, then log into the SDDC Manager UI. Navigate to Lifecycle Management > Bundle Management and click Check for Updates to pull the corrected manifest.

Additional Information

• Network Prerequisites: Ensure that your corporate firewall or proxy is configured to allow outbound HTTPS (port 443) traffic to dl.broadcom.com. If the proxy returns an HTTP 403 Forbidden error, the manifest sync will fail regardless of the configuration file paths.