How to add a host in a cluster that was imported in VCF (Brownfield)

[christian carrier]

Hi,

We ran the brownfield script to import our clusters into VCF, they're now in VCF and running.  However, we need to add a host in one of the cluster under VCF (SDDC Manager).  The problem is, we cannot add the host due to an error occuring when trying to add the host about NFS.  

The production environnement does not include an independant NFS network, however, we have several NFS datastores that are connected to ESXi host with the vmk0 (mgmt).

The Broadcom support and even our TAM tell us that we need to create a NFS network pool in SDDC Manager to be able to add the host, but in the context of a Brownfield VCF deployment which does not use NFS network pool at all, we doubt this is the way to go.  Our NFS datastores work without issue on the host that were imported by the brownfield script.

If anyone saw something about this, we would be interested to hear how you managed this.

Thank you,

Chris 

[Anders Mikkelsen]

Add the host to the cluster via vCenter, then run the Import Tool sync option
https://techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/vmware-cis/vcf/vcf-5-2-and-earlier/5-2/map-for-administering-vcf-5-2/importing-existing-vsphere-environments-admin/vcf-import-tool-options-and-parameters-admin.html 

[Jakob Hartmann]

Hey :)

It's kinda hidden in the documentation, but in the "Brownfield considerations" page, it says that you need to use the VCF Import Sync functionality to add hosts to a brownfield VCF.

https://techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/vmware-cis/vcf/vcf-5-2-and-earlier/5-2/map-for-administering-vcf-5-2/importing-existing-vsphere-environments-admin/considerations-before-converting-or-importing-existing-vsphere-environments-into-vcf-admin.html

A description of the Sync-process is found under the "Manage configuration drifts" section:

https://techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/vmware-cis/vcf/vcf-5-2-and-earlier/5-2/map-for-administering-vcf-5-2/working-with-workload-domains-admin/manage-workload-domain-configuration-drift-between-vcenter-server-and-sddc-manager-admin.html

So I'd guess that you add the host through vCenter as you normally would, then use the sync-function to add it to the SDDC manager :)

I hope this helps :)

/Jakob

[Jakob Hartmann]

I tried replying earlier but for some reason it didn't go through.. 

In the documentation under "Considerations Before Converting or Importing Existing vSphere Environments" they state that you need to add the host and then sync it:

https://techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/vmware-cis/vcf/vcf-5-2-and-earlier/5-2/map-for-administering-vcf-5-2/importing-existing-vsphere-environments-admin/considerations-before-converting-or-importing-existing-vsphere-environments-into-vcf-admin.html

In the "Manage Workload Domain Configuration Drift Between vCenter Server and SDDC Manager", there is a description of how to sync changes done in vCenter:

https://techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/vmware-cis/vcf/vcf-5-2-and-earlier/5-2/map-for-administering-vcf-5-2/working-with-workload-domains-admin/manage-workload-domain-configuration-drift-between-vcenter-server-and-sddc-manager-admin.html

So add host manually, then sync back to SDDC manager :)

/Jakob