Cross vCenter vMotion of a VM from vSphere 6.0U3 to vSphere 6.5U2 through PowerCLI fails with "A general system error occurred: Not initialized"

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Enable a VM to be cross vCenter vMotioned from a 6.0 vCenter to 6.5 using PowerCLI

Symptoms:
Unable to cross vCenter vMotion from vCenter 6.0U3 to vCenter 6.5U2 through PowerCLI
Getting errors similar to:

PowerCLI C:\> Move-VM -VM $vm -Destination $destination -NetworkAdapter $networkAdapter -PortGroup $destinationPortGroup -Datastore $destinationDatastore
Move-VM : 21/02/2019 16:57:08   Move-VM         The operation for the entity "VM" failed with the following message: "A general system error occurred: Not initialized"
At line:1 char:1
+ Move-VM -VM $vm -Destination $destination -NetworkAdapter $networkAda ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [Move-VM], SystemError
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : Client20_TaskServiceImpl_CheckServerSideTaskUpdates_OperationFailed,VMware.VimAutomation.ViCore.Cmdlets.Commands.MoveVM
 
Move-VM : 21/02/2019 16:57:08   Move-VM         21/02/2019 16:57:08     Move-VM         The operation for the entity "VM" failed with the following message: "A general system error occurred: Not initialized"
At line:1 char:1
+ Move-VM -VM $vm -Destination $destination -NetworkAdapter $networkAda ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [Move-VM], SystemError
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : Client20_TaskServiceImpl_CheckServerSideTaskUpdates_OperationFailed,VMware.VimAutomation.ViCore.Cmdlets.Commands.MoveVM

Environment

VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.0.x

Cause

This is caused by different versions of TLS running on the different vCenters. In the example above the destination vCenter did not have TLS 1.0 enabled.

Resolution

Enable the same TLS versions on the destination vCenter as is enabled on the source vCenter as per https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/6.0/com.vmware.vsphere.security.doc/GUID-82028A21-8AB5-4E2E-90B8-A01D1FAD77B1.html.

Additional Information

See also - Managing TLS protocol configuration for vSphere 6.0 Update 3 https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2148819

Impact/Risks:
Security impact if enabling lower TLS versions.