A VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) administrator cannot deploy Virtual Machines (VMs) to a compute cluster.

In vSphere 7+ and VCF-managed clusters, thevSphere Cluster Services (vCLS)VMs must remain powered on for DRS, cluster health, and policy enforcement to function. If the vCLS VMs cannot power on,no workloads—including new VMs—can be deployedto the cluster because vSphere considers the cluster unhealthy.

A common cause is insufficient resources (CPU/memory), datastore issues, or policy conflicts preventing vCLS VMs from starting. VMware providesRetreat Modeas a troubleshooting mechanism to temporarily disable vCLS, allowing the administrator to deploy VMs and correct underlying issues. Enabling retreat mode:

Removes vCLS from the cluster

Restores ability to deploy VMs

Allows remediation of storage/placement issues

Can later be disabled to restore DRS health

Option A (deleting resource pools) does not restore vCLS VM power state.

Option B (disabling HA) does not affect vCLS behavior.

Option D (setting DRS automation level) does not correct vCLS placement problems.