"No guest OS heartbeats are being received" Migration compatibility warning troubleshooting

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• When performing a vMotion migration, this compatibility warning is displayed:
  
  Migration from source_server: No guest OS heartbeats are being received. Either the guest OS is not responding or VMware tools is not configured properly .
• In the vpxd.log file, you see entries similar to:
  
  vpxd-2223.log(49294): guestHeartbeatStatus = "gray",
  vpxd-2223.log(50975): [2012-01-09 09:40:44.194 02468 trivia 'VmCheck' opID=3599E879-00000134-82] >>> Invoking VmTestFunctions::GuestHeartbeat
  vpxd-2223.log(50976): [2012-01-09 09:40:44.194 02468 trivia 'VmCheck' opID=3599E879-00000134-82] [4+] GuestHeartbeat
  vpxd-2223.log(50977): [2012-01-09 09:40:44.194 02468 verbose 'VmCheck' opID=3599E879-00000134-82] VmTestFunctions::GuestHeartbeat 1 warnings reported
  error = (vmodl.MethodFault) null,
  result = (vim.vm.check.Result) [
  (vim.vm.check.Result) {
  dynamicType = <unset>,
  vm = 'vim.VirtualMachine:vm-<vm-id>',
  host = 'vim.HostSystem:host-<host-id>',
  warning = (vmodl.MethodFault) [
  (vim.fault.NoGuestHeartbeat) {
  dynamicType = <unset>,
  faultCause = (vmodl.MethodFault) null,
  msg = "No guest OS heartbeats are being received. Either the guest OS is not responding or VMware Tools is not configured correctly.",

Environment

VMware VirtualCenter 2.0.x
VMware VirtualCenter 2.5.x

VMware vCenter Server 4.0.x
VMware vCenter Server 4.1.x
VMware vCenter Server 5.0.x
VMware vCenter Server 5.1.x
VMware vCenter Server 5.5.x
VMware vCenter Server 6.0.x

VMware vSphere ESXi 6.0
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.7
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.5
VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0

Cause

This issue occurs because vCenter Server loses access to the heartbeat from VMware Tools in the virtual machine when the VMware VirtualCenter Server service is restarted.

Resolution

To workaround the warning, perform one of these options:

• Ensure that the VMware Tools are installed in the virtual machine before performing a migration.
• Ensure that the virtual machine has been running long enough for the operating system to be completely started before performing a migration.
• Restart the VMware Tools service.

For Windows virtual machine:

1. Click Start > Run, type services.msc, and press OK.
2. Right-click VMware Tools Service and click Restart.

For Linux virtual machine, run the command:

Linux machines using init.d: /etc/init.d/vmware-tools restart
     
Linux machines using systemd: /etc/vmware-tools/services.sh restart

If your issue continues to exist, reinstall VMware Tools to ensure that you are on the latest version.

Additional Information

Impact/Risks:
This warning message does not impact the functionality/applications running of Guest OS.