Migrating a virtual machine in vSphere 5.x fails with error: "The operation is not allowed in the current connection state of the host"

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

• Cannot migrate a virtual machine in a vSphere 5.x environment.
• Migrating a virtual machine fails with the error:
  
  Relocate virtual machine
  The operation is not allowed in the current connection state of the host
  Time: ##/##/#### ##:##:##
  Target: #####
  vCenter Server: #####
  
• The Summary tab of the powered on virtual machine reports this information:
  
  
  • CPU Usage - 0 MHz
• • Memory Usage - 0.00 MB

Environment

• VMware vSphere ESXi 5.0
• VMware vSphere ESXi 5.1
• VMware vCenter Server 5.0.x
• VMware vCenter Server 5.1.x

Resolution

Perform these steps, verifying if the issue is resolved after each step:

1. Restart the VMware VirtualCenter Server Service.
2. Restart the Management agents on the ESX host running the virtual machine. For more information, see Restarting the Management agents on an ESXi or ESX host (1003490).
3. Disconnect and reconnect the ESX host that is running the virtual machine to force vCenter Server to retrieve an updated set of data relating to the objects registered to the host.

Note: If the problem persists even after performing the steps in this article, open a case with Broadcom support referencing this article.

Additional Information

This issue may also occur if vCenter Server does not have sufficient memory. Ensure that the appropriate resources are allocated to the vCenter Server virtual machine. Restarting the Management agents in ESXi