Storage vMotion fails when connecting a virtual NIC to a non-existing vSphere Distributed Switch

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

• After you add a host to a distributed switch and add one of the host's virtual machines to a distributed virtual switch, if you add the host to a vCenter Server instance that is not connected to the distributed virtual switch, attempts to perform a Storage vMotion to migrate the virtual machine fail with a network compatibility error.
• Storage vMotion fails with errors similar to: invalid configuration for device 14.
• In the /var/log/vmware/vpxd/vpxd-syslog.log file located in the vCenter Server, you see entries similar to:
  vim.fault.InvalidDeviceSpec
  

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 5.1.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.0
VMware vCenter Server 6.0.x
VMware vCenter Server 5.0.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.0
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.1
VMware vCenter Server 5.5.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.5

Resolution

As you perform Storage vMotion and move the virtual machine from source host to destination host, you must keep the destination host's setting the same as the setting of the source host. If the destination host is not added to the same distributed virtual switch, the virtual machine adapter is connected to an unknown distributed virtual switch.

To avoid this issue, before performing Storage vMotion, detach the virtual NIC from the distributed virtual switch by editing the settings of the virtual machine:

1. To access the virtual machine settings, select the virtual machine in the left pane in the vSphere Web Client.
2. Click the Manage tab, then click Settings and then click VM Hardware. If a virtual NIC is attached to a distributed virtual switch that does not exist on the host, the Attachment window displays no information.
3. To detach the virtual NIC from the non-existing distributed virtual switch, click the Network adapter to select an alternative option from the menu cascade (for example VM Network).
4. Click OK to save the changes.

If you get the "Invalid configuration for device 13" error while performing Storage vMotion, disconnect the NIC before initiating the migration.