seem to have found the cause: in event log
ExSetupUI.exe 3516 Get Servers for mydomain.com TopologyClientTcpEndpoint (localhost) 3 System.ServiceModel.EndpointNotFoundException: Could not connect to net.tcp://localhost:890/Microsoft.Exchange.Directory.TopologyService. The connection attempt lasted for a time span of 00:00:02.0230759. TCP error code 10061: No connection could be made because the target machine actively refused it 127.0.0.1:890. ---> System.Net.Sockets.SocketException: No connection could be made because the target machine actively refused it 127.0.0.1:890 at System.Net.Sockets.Socket.DoConnect(EndPoint endPointSnapshot, SocketAddress socketAddress) at System.Net.Sockets.Socket.Connect(EndPoint remoteEP) at System.ServiceModel.Channels.SocketConnectionInitiator.Connect(Uri uri, TimeSpan timeout) --- End of inner exception stack trace ---
it is obvious that no Exchange.Directory.TopologyService on the server - as this is a fresh installation!
After clean install of CU10 and attempt to upgrade to CU11 finally got a sane error that need to update the AD from the same site where the schema master located.