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Introduced in VCF 5.2.2 on VxRail, partial Lifecycle Manager conversion enables mixed lifecycle management modes within a single workload domain. This allows one cluster to remain managed by VUM while another is managed using vLCM, giving administrators the flexibility to adopt vLCM incrementally without requiring a full domain conversion or disrupting Day‑N operations.

This capability also enables vSAN ESA adoption in previously constrained environments. Since ESA requires vLCM, VUM-managed clusters could not support ESA nodes. Partial conversion addresses this by allowing a dedicated vLCM-managed cluster for ESA workloads, while existing legacy or OSA clusters continue to run under VUM.

The following post provides a brief walkthrough showing how to add a VxRail cluster to a workload domain with an existing VUM (baseline-managed) cluster, and then add a second vLCM (image-based) cluster using the SDDC Manager UI.You can view a list of prerequisites and an overview of the procedure on the VMware site here.

End Result:

Add a VxRail Cluster to VI WLD Using WFO UI Method

The following input values are required as per the process of expanding an existing workload domain by adding a VxRail cluster:

• Cluster Name.
• ESXi hosts, VxRail Manager (IP & FQDN resolvable).
• Root Password.
• NSX Host Overlay Network (DHCP server if using). When VMware NSX creates TEPs for the VI workload domain cluster hosts, they are assigned IP addresses from the DHCP server.
• Update VxRail Manager Certificate with the correct Hostname.
• Query hosts: mcp_python /usr/lib/vmware-loudmouth/loudmouthc.py query | tail -n 1 | sed ‘/^Received: {/s/Received: //1’ | jq

Change the VxRail Manger IP address & confirm discovery of hosts (included example steps to add host to smart fabric networking solution):

Update VxRail Manager Certificate with the correct Hostname by logging into VxRail Manager via ssh with mystic followed by su. cd /mystic dir and run the following script:

nslookup 10.1.0.21

./generate_ssl.sh crk01-m01-vxrm02.crk.vcfvxrail.corp

Login to SDDC Manager UI and complete the UI for WFO procedure to create a new VxRail cluster through the SDDC Manager UI as per this example. To deploy this cluster using image-based lifecycle management, select “Manage this cluster using vLCM images.” With this option enabled, all hosts in the cluster will inherit a consistent ESXi version, firmware, and driver stack from the defined vLCM image (ESXi version, VxRail HSP, and components):

Running CuRL cmd to check VxRAIL system details:

root@crk-m01-sddcmgr [ /home/vcf ]# time curl -k -X GET --user 'administrator@vsphere.local:password' https://crk01-m01-vxrm02.crk.vcfvxrail.corp/rest/vxm/private/v1/system |jq

Note: this is an example for reference only please use the VxRail installation procedures provided by Dell.

Thanks for reading!