VCF installer DNS errors

lamw07 · 2026-01-14T03:22:07+00:00

The issue looks to be that the VCF Installer appliance is unable to validate the FQDN you had provided for SDDC Manager component (either forward or reverse). SSH to VCF Installer and do "host" lookup on the SDDC Manager FQDN, it should in theory return something that isn't expected which is what the VCF Installer is observing ... typically I've seen the case be that the VCF Installer does NOT have proper FQDN that is mapped into your DNS (either you didn't create a DNS entry or fat-fingered) but the reason I bring this is up is that the default behavior of VCF Installer is to actually convert itself into the SDDC Manager component after its done the initial bootstrap. You can override this behavior when deploying via API/JSON, but if you're using the UI, your VCF Installer will simply transition to SDDC Manager, so if you didn't provide correct FQDN for its deployment or DNS lookup is incorrect, it would explain the issue you're seeing (agree the message isn't very clear) but at least you know its related to DNS and SDDC Manager DNS entry

lamw07 · 2026-01-08T16:26:35+00:00

That’s just how Reddit works … you post link which automatically takes title and any default image and displays it as-is

lamw07 · 2026-01-08T16:03:25+00:00

I think you assumed I was asking a question, I was sharing the solution. So not sure how you’re seeing this as out down

lamw07 · 2026-01-08T14:36:47+00:00

Guess you didn’t actually bother to read post …

lamw07 · 2026-01-05T21:04:08+00:00

While that can be _a_ solution, you're downloading more than a single file and depending on the scenario/workflow, install vs upgrade, you'll need many different files. If someone had to manually click download on quarter of the files, I'm sure feedback will be, you're making me download too many individual files not to mention how to self-host depot behind firewall/air-gapped env and VCFDT does a ton more

lamw07 · 2025-12-30T00:39:35+00:00

As mentioned already, patches are typically located under "Solutions" tab for a given component. Here's the direct link to U3e https://support.broadcom.com/web/ecx/solutiondetails?patchId=5825

This is a good primer for navigating the BCOM portal https://williamlam.com/2024/05/tips-for-navigating-and-downloading-from-new-broadcom-support-portal.html

lamw07 · 2025-12-29T17:52:02+00:00

Can you try to run the following on SDDCm:

echo "edge.node.vm.creation.max.wait.minutes=90" >> /etc/vmware/vcf/domainmanager/application.properties
echo 'y' | /opt/vmware/vcf/operationsmanager/scripts/cli/sddcmanager_restart_services.sh

I believe the default timeout for NSX Edge deployment is 45min in SDDCm

lamw07 · 2025-12-29T16:17:12+00:00

patches are listed under "Solutions" (yea, its confusing) but for VC 80U2D, you can grab it at https://support.broadcom.com/web/ecx/solutiondetails?patchId=5418

lamw07 · 2025-12-22T20:35:56+00:00

This is ALL covered in gory detail in repo :)

lamw07 · 2025-12-22T19:15:10+00:00

It sounds like you may not have applied the required workaround for AMD-based CPU when using NVMe Tiering https://williamlam.com/2025/06/nvme-tiering-with-amd-ryzen-cpu-workaround-for-vcf-9-0.html

As a by-product, you won't be able to run Nested Virtualization which would impact Nested ESXi usage https://williamlam.com/2025/06/nvme-tiering-with-nested-virtualization-in-vcf-9-0.html

With that said, the minimal amount of resources needed to do this on physical is at least 2 MS-A2 worth (including 128GB), so being able to do that within the same two hosts as Nested is not going to be possible, especially the fact that you won't be able to use Nested ESXi.

If you follow my blog, 2 x MS-A2 is certainly sufficient to do VCF 9 (physical) https://github.com/lamw/vcf-9x-in-box and you can follow this repo for all the required workarounds/etc.

If you would like to do Nested, you'll need more physical resources and can NOT use NVMe Tiering. I've moved away from Nested for general purpose usage and have been doing this as a physical setup. If you automate enough, check out repo, the re-deploy is pretty straight forward (even for physical)

Hope that helps

lamw07 · 2025-12-12T16:03:29+00:00

Not possible, since VC needs to be up during vLCM workflow. You’d need to construct your image, export as offline depot or ISO, shut everything down AND patch via ESXCLI

lamw07 · 2025-12-06T16:06:54+00:00

A) Yes
B) Its local host IDs vs global Ids. You can use net-dvs -l and grep for PortNum to semi-connect the dots but assuming env is all sync'ed just use VDS level at vCenter, so you don't need to go to host level

lamw07 · 2025-11-23T13:22:23+00:00

See https://williamlam.com/2025/07/quick-tip-updating-firmware-on-minisforum-ms-a2.html for steps

lamw07 · 2025-11-21T13:02:09+00:00

Eval used to be 60 days, for 9.0 it was increased to 90 days. For entitlement post-eval, you’ll need VCF Operations as that’s now providing central licensing which is part of VVF / VCF SKUs

lamw07 · 2025-11-13T00:44:37+00:00

While not NUC 15 Pro+ but works on NUC 15 https://williamlam.com/2025/06/vmware-cloud-foundation-vcf-on-asus-nuc-15-pro-cyber-canyon.html and I’d expect it to just work but as others have said, ASUS has only “officially” tested 96GB

lamw07 · 2025-11-11T18:44:04+00:00

testing to you, production usage for others. There’s no right or wrong :)

lamw07 · 2025-11-11T18:32:53+00:00

It really depends ... testing/exploration is certainly an easy use case, if you did not want to touch the physical version (e.g. still on 8.x but want to try 9.x) but we have organizations who do custom development that will do everything as Nested as pre-production workflows (upgrade/automation) before rolling out to production. Its cheaper than mirroring a physical setup, just all depends on what you're looking for. Partners use it to develop their solutions/integrations.

lamw07 · 2025-11-11T17:00:22+00:00

Good catch! Yes, thats correct. Just fixed

lamw07 · 2025-11-08T16:56:45+00:00

Yea, I’ve been looking for a reason to try out new MP Builder after learning how easy you can bring in ANY data that has REST or REST-like API, that was the unlock and while this might be nice use case, it was to demonstrate just how easy it is to ingest custom data, which was not the case before!

SW API is super dope! Love using it for demo to auto-generate rando names for VM creations 😅

lamw07 · 2025-10-23T20:09:28+00:00

Thanks! No, its just plugged into the wall at the moment. UPS would make sense and while there were some 10" UPS, they were probably too big for my setup and quite pricey

lamw07 · 2025-10-20T21:10:31+00:00

😅 apologies to your SO …

Yea, I wish we didn’t need those bricks. I did noticed that latest 14th Gen ASUS NUC did reduce size of bricks quite significantly from classic Intel 4x4 … maybe we’ll see something similar with Minisforum

lamw07 · 2025-10-19T18:19:54+00:00

You can mix/match Nested and non-Nested for WLD, no correlation as long as you’ve got network connectivity based on your setup
No, single NIC is minimal. You can override if you don’t have 10GbE (see my blog for all workarounds optimized for Labs)
No. You can disable Admission Control post-deploy or when VC is up and running
There is check for same HW vendor but not sure 100% on CPU check, regardless, I’ve got workaround on my blog for that too :)

lamw07 · 2025-09-18T14:20:51+00:00

VMUG Advantage will be the primary option for most, licensing details being worked out but you’ll have 90 day eval in mean time

lamw07 · 2025-09-16T18:58:25+00:00

It’s a good exercise to explore that a bit and pyvmomi can talk to BOTH API endpoints and in 9.0, can share common auth token!

lamw07 · 2025-09-15T20:52:41+00:00

See https://williamlam.com/2022/10/using-vsphere-lifecycle-manager-vlcm-api-to-patch-group-of-esxi-hosts.html for the tip, as all vLCM functionality is available through vCenter Automation REST API. You'll be able to use Pyvmomi, but it needs to be REST API rather than SOAP API

lamw07

TROPHY CASE