If you’ve been working with VCF Operations 9.1, you may have noticed that on the Build > Lifecycle > VCF Management > Components page, manually-added components such as VCF Operations for Networks, Log Management, Real-Time Metrics or VCF Automation no longer have a “Delete” option available in the UI.

In VCF Operations 9.0, this was possible on the Fleet Management > Lifecycle > Components page by clicking the three vertical dots next to a component and selecting Delete. That option is gone in 9.1.

Broadcom has published KB article 441333 with an attached Python script (cleanup_component.py) that fills this gap. In this post i walk through how to use it for each component type.

Prerequisites

Before running the cleanup script, make sure the following are in place:

  • Python installed on the system where you will run the script (can be any system with network access to the Fleet and VCF Management Services components).
  • Network access to the Fleet LCM appliance and VCF Services Runtime.
  • Credentials — use username admin as the value for the VCF Services Runtime username. The password is the same as the vmware-system-user password.
  • FQDN values — replace all placeholder FQDNs such as <fleet-lcm-fqdn> with the actual values. These can be obtained from VCF Operations UI -> Build -> Lifecycle -> VCF Management -> Components (e.g., vsp01.example.com for <vcf-services-runtime-fqdn>).

Warning: Prior to deletion, verify that you have a backup of any critical component data which needs to be retained, such as logs or database backups.

Download and Verify the Script

Download cleanup_component.py from KB 441333 (attached at the bottom of the article).

Verify the SHA256 checksum before running:

sha256sum cleanup_component.py
```text

Expected checksum:

27A82D393333D17261EF1E8629A69AD6C40659A8537DF961DE95E545FE656F5B


---

## What the Script Does

The LCM component cleanup script enables administrators to manage Day-N deployed components visible in the VCF Operations UI:

- **List components** — View all deployed components currently eligible for removal.
- **Delete components** — Safely remove inoperable or misconfigured components from the system so they can be redeployed later through VCF Operations.

**Important notes:**

- If a component is running a version older than 9.1, it is removed solely from the Fleet lifecycle. The script does not delete the corresponding infrastructure deployments such as vCenter or VCF Services Runtime.
- VSP refers to VCF Management Services.

---

## 1. OVA Components

Deleting an OVA-based deployment removes it from Fleet lifecycle and also deletes the associated virtual machines from vCenter.

### List Components Deployed on vCenter

```bash
python cleanup_component.py list ova-component --fleet-fqdn <fleet-lcm-fqdn> --vcf-services-runtime-fqdn <vcf-services-runtime-fqdn> --vcf-services-runtime-username <vcf-services-runtime-username>
```text

### Delete Component Deployed on vCenter

```bash
python cleanup_component.py delete ova-component --component-id <ova-component-id> --fleet-fqdn <fleet-lcm-fqdn> --vcf-services-runtime-fqdn <vcf-services-runtime-fqdn> --vcf-services-runtime-username <vcf-services-runtime-username> --vcenter-username <vcenter-username>
```text

The script will prompt for the required passwords. Once confirmed, the OVA component will be removed from Fleet lifecycle and its associated VMs deleted from vCenter.

---

## 2. VCF Management Services (VSP) Components

Deleting a VSP-based deployment removes it from Fleet lifecycle and also deletes the associated deployment from VCF Services Runtime.

### List Components Deployed on VCF Services Runtime

```bash
python cleanup_component.py list vsp-component --fleet-fqdn <fleet-lcm-fqdn> --vcf-services-runtime-fqdn <vcf-services-runtime-fqdn> --vcf-services-runtime-username <vcf-services-runtime-username>
```text

### Delete Component Deployed on VCF Services Runtime

```bash
python cleanup_component.py delete vsp-component --component-id <vsp-component-id> --fleet-fqdn <fleet-lcm-fqdn> --vcf-services-runtime-fqdn <vcf-services-runtime-fqdn> --vcf-services-runtime-username <vcf-services-runtime-username>
```text

---

## 3. VCF Automation

VCF Automation is a multi-component deployment consisting of:

- **VCF Automation**
- **Migration Service Engine**
- **VCF Automation VCF Services Runtime**

> **Important:** You must remove VCF Automation and the Migration Service Engine **before** you remove the VCF Automation VCF Services Runtime. Follow the order below.

### Step 1: Remove VCF Automation and Migration Service Engine

#### List Components Deployed on VCF Services Runtime

```bash
python cleanup_component.py list vsp-component --fleet-fqdn <fleet-lcm-fqdn> --vcf-services-runtime-fqdn <vcf-services-runtime-fqdn> --vcf-services-runtime-username <vcf-services-runtime-username>
```text

#### Delete Component Deployed on the VCF Automation VCF Services Runtime

```bash
python cleanup_component.py delete vsp-component --component-id <vsp-component-id> --fleet-fqdn <fleet-lcm-fqdn> --vcf-services-runtime-fqdn <vcf-services-runtime-fqdn> --vcf-services-runtime-username <vcf-services-runtime-username> --vcfa-vcf-services-runtime-fqdn <vcfa-vcf-services-runtime-fqdn> --vcfa-vcf-services-runtime-username <vcfa-vcf-services-runtime-username>
```text

Run the delete command for both the VCF Automation component and the Migration Service Engine component before proceeding to Step 2.

### Step 2: Remove the VCF Automation VCF Services Runtime

> **Warning:** Deleting a VCF Services Runtime requires this script to be executed as the **root** user inside the **SDDC Manager** virtual machine.

#### List VCF Services Runtime

```bash
python cleanup_component.py list vsp-cluster --fleet-fqdn <fleet-lcm-fqdn> --vcf-services-runtime-fqdn <vcf-services-runtime-fqdn> --vcf-services-runtime-username <vcf-services-runtime-username>
```text

#### Delete VCF Services Runtime

```bash
python cleanup_component.py delete vsp-cluster --component-id <vsp-cluster-id> --fleet-fqdn <fleet-lcm-fqdn> --vcf-services-runtime-fqdn <vcf-services-runtime-fqdn> --vcf-services-runtime-username <vcf-services-runtime-username> --vcenter-username <vcenter-username>

Summary

The cleanup_component.py script is a handy workaround for the missing “Delete” option in VCF Operations 9.1. The key things to remember:

  1. Back up any critical component data before running delete operations.
  2. For OVA components, deletion also removes VMs from vCenter.
  3. For VSP components, deletion also removes the deployment from VCF Services Runtime.
  4. For VCF Automation, always delete VCF Automation and Migration Service Engine first, then delete the VCF Services Runtime — and run that last step as root on the SDDC Manager VM.
  5. Always verify the script checksum before running it.

For the official script download and additional details, refer to Broadcom KB article 441333.

I hope this helps!