VMware Cloud Foundation 5.1.1 | 26 MAR 2024 | Build 23480823

Check for additions and updates to these release notes.

What's New

The VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 5.1.1 on Dell VxRail release includes the following:

Deprecation Notices

VMware Cloud Foundation Bill of Materials (BOM)

The VMware Cloud Foundation software product is comprised of the following software Bill-of-Materials (BOM). The components in the BOM are interoperable and compatible.

Software Component

Version

Date

Build Number

Cloud Builder VM

5.1.1

26 MAR 2024

23480823

SDDC Manager

5.1.1

26 MAR 2024

23480823

VxRail Manager

8.0.210

26 MAR 2024

NA

VMware vCenter Server Appliance

8.0 Update 2b

29 FEB 2024

23319993

VMware vSAN Witness Appliance

8.0 Update 2

21 SEP 2023

22443122

VMware NSX

4.1.2.3

12 MAR 2024

23382408

VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle

8.16

29 FEB 2024

23377566

  • VMware ESXi and VMware vSAN are part of the VxRail BOM.

  • You can use VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle to deploy VMware Aria Automation, VMware Aria Operations, VMware Aria Operations for Logs, and Workspace ONE Access (formerly known as VMware Identity Manager). VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle determines which versions of these products are compatible and only allows you to install/upgrade to supported versions. See VMware Aria Suite Upgrade Paths on VMware Cloud Foundation 4.4.x +.

  • VMware Aria Operations for Logs content packs are installed when you deploy VMware Aria Operations for Logs.

  • The VMware Aria Operations management pack is installed when you deploy VMware Aria Operations.

  • You can access the latest versions of the content packs for VMware Aria Operations for Logs from the VMware Solution Exchange and the VMware Aria Operations for Logs in-product marketplace store.

Installation and Upgrade Information

You can perform a sequential or skip level upgrade to VMware Cloud Foundation 5.1.1 on Dell VxRail from VMware Cloud Foundation 4.4 or later. If your environment is at a version earlier than 4.4, you must upgrade the management domain and all VI workload domains to VMware Cloud Foundation 4.4 and then upgrade to VMware Cloud Foundation 5.1.1.

IMPORTANT: Before you upgrade a vCenter Server, take a file-based backup. See Manually Back Up vCenter Server.

NOTE: Scripts that rely on SSH being activated on ESXi hosts will not work after upgrading to VMware Cloud Foundation 5.1.1, since VMware Cloud Foundation 5.1.1 deactivates the SSH service by default. Update your scripts to account for this new behavior. See KB 86230 for information about activating and deactivating the SSH service on ESXi hosts.

Resolved Issues

The following issues have been resolved:

  • Cluster Expansion fails during the Transport Nodes collectionUnable to create transport node collection with profile

  • Adding a VI workload domain or cluster fails when overlay is on separate vSphere Distributed Switch and the vmnic to uplink mappings are not in correct order. See KB 95347 for more information about the issue that has been resolved.

Known Issues

For VMware Cloud Foundation 5.1.1 known issues, see VMware Cloud Foundation 5.1.1 known issues. Some of the known issues may be for features that are not available on VMware Cloud Foundation on Dell VxRail.

See the following Dell KBs for information about issues affecting VMware Cloud Foundation 5.1.1 on Dell VxRail:

VMware Cloud Foundation 5.1.1 on Dell VxRail Known Issues appear below:

  • The SDDC Manager UI displays the "Use Existing NSX instance" option when sharing is not supported

    When you create a VI workload domain, it can share an NSX Manager instance with an existing workload domain, as long as the workload domains use the same update method. The workload domains must both use vSphere Lifecycle Manager baselines or they must both use vSphere Lifecycle Manager images. The SDDC Manager UI displays the Use Existing NSX instance option, even when the workload domains use different update methods

    Workaround: None. You will not be able to create the VI workload domain if you select the Use Existing NSX instance option when it is not supported.

  • Cannot host an Edge cluster on a vSphere cluster that is created with multiple VDSes where VM MANAGEMENT and MANAGEMENT networks are on different VDSes

    When you create a workload domain or add a cluster to a workload domain, the operation may store the incorrect vSphere Distributed Switch (VDS) information for the VM MANAGEMENT network in the VCF inventory. This happens if:

    • The workload domain/ cluster is using multiple VDSes, and

    • The VM MANAGEMENT and MANAGEMENT networks are on different VDSes.

    This will cause a failure for Edge cluster creation on the vSphere cluster.

    Workaround: Contact Broadcom VMware Support.

  • Creating a workload domain or adding a cluster using ESXi hosts with GPU drivers

    If your ESXi hosts include a GPU driver, you must upload the GPU driver to the VxRail Manager before you:

    • Create a VI workload domain that uses vSphere Lifecycle Manager images.

    • Add a cluster to a VI workload domain that uses vSphere Lifecycle Manager images.

  • Adding a VxRail cluster using the SDDC Manager UI displays a validation error

    If you add a new VxRail cluster with a custom switch configuration but do not specify MTU values for both the vSphere distributed switch (vDS) and the distributed port groups, validation fails and you cannot add the VxRail cluster.

    Workaround: Add MTU values for the vDS and distributed port groups or copy the switch configuration from one of the preconfigured profiles.

  • VxRail does not allow more than 2 active/one active uplink, 1 standby nics.

    Mapping more than 2 uplinks causes VxRail cluster validation to fail during the VxRail Dry Run.

    Workaround: When creating a custom NIC profile, map no more than 2 uplinks to active/standby uplinks.

  • Incorrect warning displays for Create Workload Domain and Add Cluster UI

    An incorrect warning appears when the 'Static IP Pool' option is selected for IP allocation on overlay switches during Workload Domain and Add Cluster workflows. The warning message states, "Clusters with a static IP pool cannot be stretched across availability zones."

    Workaround: None. This is a cosmetic issue and can be ignored.

  • Support for consuming VxRail upgrade bundles for 4x-5x and 5x-5y is unavailable

    VxRail Manager 8.0.100 to 8.0.210 upgrade fails stating a 8.0.x.zip file does not exist error.

    Workaround: See KB article 94747 for the scripts and manual steps to mitigate this compatibility gap.

  • When adding a VxRail cluster, the teaming polices are not the same as specified in the request payload.

    The "Add Cluster" workflow allows optional teaming policy inputs for port groups when creating a new cluster. However, the teaming policies are set to default values, even if custom teaming policies are specified in the input spec.

    Workaround: Once the cluster is created, you can change the port group teaming policies from vCenter UI manually.

  • Configure DNS/NTP task fails atGenerate Inputs for vRealize Suite Resource Types

    When VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle is deployed on a VCF instance, the DNS/NTP workflow fails while updating DNS/NTP on VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle VM

    Workaround: See KB articles 2115840 and 70323

  • Failed VxRail first run prevents new cluster/workload domain creation

    If the VxRail first run fails, some objects associated with the failed task remain in the vCenter Server inventory and prevent new cluster/workload domain creation.

    Workaround: Remove the inventory objects associated with the failed task using the vSphere Client.

    1. Log in to the vSphere Client.

    2. In the Hosts and Clusters inventory, right-click the failed cluster and select vSAN > Shutdown cluster.

    3. After the shutdown completes, right-click the failed cluster and select Delete.

    After the inventory is cleaned up, you can retry adding a cluster or creating a workload domain.

  • Add VxRail hosts validation fails

    When adding VxRail hosts to a workload domain or cluster that uses Fibre Channel (FC) storage, the task may fail with the message No shared datastore can be found on host. This can happen if you used the Workflow Optimization Script to deploy the workload domain or cluster and chose an FC datastore name other than the default name.

    Workaround: Use the VMware Host Client to rename the FC datastore on the new VxRail hosts to match the name you entered when creating the workload domain or cluster. Once the FC datasore name of the new hosts matches the existing FC datastore name, retry the Add VxRail Hosts operation.

  • Unsupported versions of VxRail not restricted during create cluster/domain operations

    VCF on VxRail does not restrict using unsupported/unpaired versions of VxRail for create cluster/domain operations. If nodes are re-imaged with a VxRail version that is not paired with the current VCF release, VCF does not restrict using these nodes for creating a cluster/domain.

    Workaround: Use the VxRail Manager version paired with the correct VCF release for create domain/cluster operations.

  • vSAN/vMotion network disruption can occur when using the workflow optimization script

    When you use the workflow optimization script to create a new VI workload domain or add a new cluster to an existing workload domain, you can cause a network disruption on existing vSAN/vMotion networks if:

    • The IP range for the new vSAN network overlaps with the IP range for an existing vSAN network.

    • The IP range for the new vMotion network overlaps with the IP range for an existing vMotion network.

    Workaround: None. Make sure to provide vSAN/vMotion IP ranges that do not overlap with existing vSAN/vMotion networks.

check-circle-line exclamation-circle-line close-line
Scroll to top icon