Storage vMotion migration fails with the error: Unsupported adapter type for source disk

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• Storage vMotion fails
  
  
• You see the error:
  A general system error occurred: Failed to start disk migrations.

• In the vmware.log file of the affected virtual machine, you see an entry similar to:
  W110: SVMotion: scsiX:X: SVMotionDiskGetSrcInfo: unsupported adapter type for source disk.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 6.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.x

Cause

This issue occurs because the ddb.adapterType in the disk descriptor (vmdk) file has been modified with a value other than lsilogic.

Resolution

This is a known issue affecting VMware ESXi 5.x and 6.0.x.

Currently, there is no resolution.

To work around this issue, ensure that the ddb.adapterType on the descriptor (.vmdk) file is configured for lsilogic.

1. Log in as root to one of the ESXi host that has access to the datastore where the virtual disk(s) resides on.
   
   
2. Navigate to the virtual machine directory.
   
   Note: Ensure to create a backup of the descriptor (.vmdk) file before proceeding with the next steps.
   
   
3. Edit the descriptor (.vmdk) file. For more information, see Adding/Deleting/Editing a host entry on vCenter server or ESXi host using vi editor
   
   
4. Replace the value of ddb.adapterType with lsilogic.
   
   For example:
   
   ddb.adapterType = "lsilogic"
   
   
5. Save the file.
   
   
6. Reboot the virtual machine, If rebooting is not an option, migrate the virtual machine to another ESXi host.

Additional Information