SDDC validation fails

[johnboonso]

I am trying to deploy a nested vCF deployment. 

I am running 2 physical hosts with vcenter configured. 

The vcenter currently runs 2 x vDS in a fairly standard configuration. 

1 x vds for management vmotion etc

1 x vds for san / vsan 

I have a 2 Guest Switch tag port groups setup which contain a collection of VLANs which will be used again in a fairly standard vCF configuration 

1 x vds containing a bunch of vlan from the previous vcenter portgroup

1 x vds for vsan traffic 

4 x virtual esxi 7.03g hosts. each host has 4 nics 

2 pointing to port group 1 from the physical vcenter 

2 pointing to port group 2 from the physical vcenter 

The ESXi hosts are presented directly on the management vlan with no issues. 

When the validation run it complains about MGT, VMOTION, SAN networks not being accessible. I noticed the validator has some automation that adds port groups attaches the vlans etc. Seems to work ok. But no connectivity on those vlans. 

If i ignore the warnings and try to deploy vcenter starts to deploy and fails due to network issues. 

The warnings are showing below. 

ESXi Host almsydesxn71.alm13.local 'VM Network' portgroup VLAN ID 0 does not match the MANAGEMENT network VLAN ID (Expecting 3110)

ESXi Host almsydesxn72.alm13.local 'VM Network' portgroup VLAN ID 0 does not match the MANAGEMENT network VLAN ID (Expecting 3110)

ESXi Host almsydesxn73.alm13.local 'VM Network' portgroup VLAN ID 0 does not match the MANAGEMENT network VLAN ID (Expecting 3110)

ESXi Host almsydesxn74.alm13.local 'VM Network' portgroup VLAN ID 0 does not match the MANAGEMENT network VLAN ID (Expecting 3110)

Gateway 172.31.12.1 for VSAN network is not responding from almsydesxn73.alm13.local

ESXi Host 'almsydesxn73.alm13.local' -> '172.31.12.74' VLAN '3112' with MTU 9000 fail to vmkping. Possible no network connection or not reachable

Gateway 172.31.12.1 for VSAN network is not responding from almsydesxn72.alm13.local

ESXi Host 'almsydesxn72.alm13.local' -> '172.31.12.73' VLAN '3112' with MTU 9000 fail to vmkping. Possible no network connection or not reachable

ESXi Host 'almsydesxn72.alm13.local' -> '172.31.12.74' VLAN '3112' with MTU 9000 fail to vmkping. Possible no network connection or not reachable

Gateway 172.31.12.1 for VSAN network is not responding from almsydesxn71.alm13.local

ESXi Host 'almsydesxn71.alm13.local' -> '172.31.12.72' VLAN '3112' with MTU 9000 fail to vmkping. Possible no network connection or not reachable

ESXi Host 'almsydesxn71.alm13.local' -> '172.31.12.73' VLAN '3112' with MTU 9000 fail to vmkping. Possible no network connection or not reachable

ESXi Host 'almsydesxn71.alm13.local' -> '172.31.12.74' VLAN '3112' with MTU 9000 fail to vmkping. Possible no network connection or not reachable

Gateway 172.31.12.1 for VSAN network is not responding from almsydesxn74.alm13.local

ESXi Host 'almsydesxn73.alm13.local' -> '172.31.14.104' VLAN '3114' with MTU 1600 fail to vmkping. Possible no network connection or not reachable

ESXi Host 'almsydesxn72.alm13.local' -> '172.31.14.103' VLAN '3114' with MTU 1600 fail to vmkping. Possible no network connection or not reachable

ESXi Host 'almsydesxn72.alm13.local' -> '172.31.14.104' VLAN '3114' with MTU 1600 fail to vmkping. Possible no network connection or not reachable

ESXi Host 'almsydesxn71.alm13.local' -> '172.31.14.102' VLAN '3114' with MTU 1600 fail to vmkping. Possible no network connection or not reachable

ESXi Host 'almsydesxn71.alm13.local' -> '172.31.14.103' VLAN '3114' with MTU 1600 fail to vmkping. Possible no network connection or not reachable

ESXi Host 'almsydesxn71.alm13.local' -> '172.31.14.104' VLAN '3114' with MTU 1600 fail to vmkping. Possible no network connection or not reachable

I also notice all port groups are removed after the validator runs ok, so its not possible to retest this manually unless it recreate the port groups manually. 

[CyberNils]

Hi,

The ESXi hosts used for bringing up VCF can't have VDS only VSS. Make sure to follow all requirements here:
https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-Cloud-Foundation/4.5/vcf-deploy/GUID-F2DCF1B2-4EF6-444E-80BA-8F529...

- Change VM Network' portgroup VLAN ID to 3110.

- Are you using vmnic0 and vmnic1? Makes sure they both have connectivity and all VLANs accessible.

- You can manually create a vSwitch1 VSS and test the connectivity manually, and then delete it before retrying bring-up.

[johnboonso]

Hi Nils, 

Thank you for your response, my installation is actually in a home lab and as such I am trying to do this as a NESTED environment. 

The vDS I spoke of earlier is actually on the physical vcenter, not the nested. 

That being said I tried changing the VM Network vlan to 3110 as you suggested and that also did not work. In fact the VM Network doesn't receive DHCP nor does it seem to route at all. 

The Management network which is on the exact same vlan does work. (weird). Anyway it looks like the solution is to install vyOS something I was trying to avoid as I do not yet understand it. 

But I really do not understand why vyOS is needed. 

[CyberNils]

I would highly recommend using VLC to deploy VCF nested. You can read more about that here:

https://cybernils.net/2021/03/25/vmware-cloud-foundation-in-a-lab/

[connecttoduy]

ESXi Host almsydesxn71.alm13.local 'VM Network' portgroup VLAN ID 0 does not match the MANAGEMENT network VLAN ID (Expecting 3110) --> try manual change VM Network to 3110

About MTU --> cross-check MTU on physical switch - on virtual switch of ESXi - on deployment script. Need same MTU. Best practice you can set enable jumbo frame on all device

Regards

Duy