Auto Deploy not working after vCenter 8.0u2 upgrade

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Post vCenter upgrade to 8.0u2, Auto Deploy is not able to pull the image from vCenter.

It fails with below error

/vmw/rbd/host-register... HTTP 4xx Client Error
Could not boot: HTTP 4xx Client Error
Could not boot image: HTTP 4xx Client Error
Network error encountered while PXE booting.

 

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 8.0U2 and above

Cause

The Auto Deploy feature on the version 8.0 U2 has the code change due to which, the "hostname" attribute is now verified for the following pattern: '^[a-zA-Z0-9\-]{1,63}$'

dots are no longer accepted. 

Additional cause, the Hostname field is blank in the iPXE configuration

Resolution

As a workaround the following steps can be followed by checking the parameters used on the host

1. Reboot the host.
2. When it shows iPXE screen, press Ctrl+B.
3. Enter config utility using "config" command. Alternatively "show hostname" to display hostname if set.
4. Verify the FQDN is being used as the hostname.

 

Upon verifying that the FQDN is being used as the hostname, navigate to the DHCP server

In the DHCP server, navigate to the IPv4 > Scope Auto Deploy > Host ( The IP address of the host will be listed).

Update the hostname from hostname.domain_name.top_level_domain ( Example : esxi01.vsphere.local ) to hostname ( Example : hostname ).

Reboot the host.

Additional Workaround

• Validate the reverse DNS records
  • extra spaces in the field can cause this issue as well

 

 

Additional Information

Impact/Risks:

The Auto Deploy fails with the following error :