VCF 9.1.1 Deployment fails due to unsupported NIC Firmware
Article ID: 456257
Updated On:
Products
Issue/Introduction
- During VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) deployment, the process fails at the "Deploy and configure NSX" milestone, specifically during the "Create Transport Node Collection" sub-task.
The UI error shows the following message: An error occurred in task "null". See Tasks panel to learn more.
- The below screenshot shows this behavior:
- Concurrently, ESXi hosts and the SDDC Manager may become completely unreachable over the network.
- Logs from the deployment appliance (domainmanager.log) indicate task aggregation timeouts and HTTP request failures.
- Hardware inspection via out-of-band management reveals that the physical network interfaces (vmnics) used for the deployment disappear from the host's recognized devices, and device internal error states are logged.
Environment
VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1.1
Cause
The ESXi host network interface cards (NICs) are running an unsupported firmware version.
During the NSX Transport Node configuration, the unsupported firmware causes the NIC to enter a "Device internal error state," resulting in the interfaces dropping offline and severing Layer 2 connectivity to the hosts and SDDC Manager.
Resolution
- Access the ESXi host out-of-band management interface (e.g., iDRAC, iLO, or BMC) to regain console access.
See "Accessing the local ESXi Shell" in the KB - Using ESXi Shell in ESXi - Verify the current firmware and driver versions running on the ESXi host NICs.
localcli network nic get -n vmnic# - Consult the VMware Compatibility Guide to identify the exact supported firmware and driver combination for the specific hardware, VCF, and ESXi release.
- Upgrade the NIC firmware and drivers on all affected ESXi hosts to the certified and supported versions.
- Reboot the ESXi hosts to apply the firmware and driver updates and restore the missing vmnics.
- Once the hosts are back online and network connectivity is verified, return to the VCF Installer and click the option to retry and proceed with the deployment.
Additional Information
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