vMotion fails with connection errors

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

Summary

vMotion fails with connection errors.

Example

• <EXAMPLE 1:<br></EXAMPLE>Example 1
  Failed to start migration pre-copy. Error: Connection reset by peer.
  VMotion [-1062693184:1279397837393509] failed to send init message to remote host <192.168.150.50>
  VMotion [-1062693184:1279397837393509] (0-71480066970184) failed to receive 68/68 bytes from remote host <192.168.150.50>: Connection reset by peer
  Migration transfer failed during receive operation to socket 71471309916928: received 0/68 bytes: Connection reset by peer
  
  
• Example 2:
  
  Failed to start migration pre-copy. Error: Connection closed by remote host, possibly due to timeout.
  VMotion [167772162:1280090451957875] failed to send init message to remote host <10.0.0.2>
  VMotion [167772162:1280090451957875] (0-71485435682904) failed to receive 68/68 bytes from remote host <10.0.0.2>: Connection closed by remote host, possibly due to timeout
  
  
• In the vmkernel.log log file, you see messages similar to:
  
  Tcpip_Vmk: 97: arp: xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx is using my IP address 192.168.1.115 on vmk0!

Impact

vMotion operations continue to fail.

Environment

VMware ESXi 4.1.x Installable
VMware ESXi 4.0.x Installable
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.0
VMware ESX 4.0.x
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Embedded
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.1
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.5
VMware ESX 4.1.x
VMware ESXi 4.0.x Embedded

Resolution

This issue occurs if the destination host refuses the source's initial handshake message, suggesting that you are not connecting to the correct destination host over the vMotion network. Normally, this is due to IP address conflicts within the vMotion network, with two hosts sharing the destination's IP address.

If you experience this issue, double-check vMotion network configuration.

To check the health of the vMotion network:

• Check for IP address conflicts on the vMotion network. Each host in the cluster should have a vMotion vmknic, assigned a unique IP address.
• Check for packet loss over the vMotion network. Try having the source host ping (vmkping) the destination host's vMotion vmknic IP address for the duration of the vMotion.
• Check that each vMotion vmkernel port group have the same security settings. A security mismatch causes a vMotion operation to fail. For example, a failure occurs if a source vmkernel portgroup is set to allow promiscuous mode and the destination vmkernel portgroup is set to disallow promiscuous mode .
  
  Note: To test connectivity using the vmkping command when Jumbo Frames are configured, run the command with the -s option. For more information on running the vmkping command, see Testing VMkernel network connectivity with the vmkping command (1003728).
  
  
• Check for connectivity between the two hosts. Try having the source host ping (vmkping) the destination host's vMotion vmknic IP address.

Additional Information

Testing VMkernel network connectivity with the vmkping command
vMotion が接続エラーで失敗する
vMotion 失败并出现连接错误