Overview
While deploying VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9.1 in a homelab environment, the installation repeatedly failed during the ‘Deploy and Configure VCF Management Platform’ stage. Despite performing nine completely clean installations, the deployment consistently stopped at the same point.
Error Observed
The deployment task failed with the message: ‘Add VM Name Prefix to NSX Firewall Exclusion List’. The failure was identified in /var/log/vmware/vcf/domainmanager/domainmanager.log
Initial Research
Several Broadcom Knowledge Base articles appeared relevant, including KB440449 and KB 441122. Although the symptoms were similar, neither article fully resolved the issue.
VMSP Configuration Review
The original VMSP configuration used a name value matching the prefix of the fleetFqdn. The configuration was modified to use a unique VMSP cluster name. While this appeared promising, the issue persisted.
Additional Troubleshooting
Additional troubleshooting included changing VMSP IP ranges, rebuilding DNS records, validating forward and reverse DNS resolution, and reviewing deployment logs for networking issues.
Root Cause Analysis
The issue was ultimately not caused by the NSX firewall exclusion configuration. Multiple infrastructure issues contributed to deployment instability.
Resolution
1. Configure a single authoritative NTP source, preferably the domain controller.
See the planning and preparation workbook
https://techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/vmware-cis/vcf/vcf-9-0-and-later/9-1/planning-and-preparation.html
2. Verify DNS records and name resolution.
3. Upgraded to a dedicated 10G Switch Ubiquiti UniFi Pro XG 8 PoE ipv 2.5GB Ubiquity Switch
4. Replace faulty network components.
Conclusion
Although the deployment failure appeared to indicate an NSX firewall exclusion issue, the underlying cause was network instability combined with infrastructure configuration problems. After correcting NTP configuration, validating DNS, upgrading network connectivity, and replacing the defective SFP+ module, the VCF 9.1 deployment completed successfully.
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