vMotion fails with error "NamespaceMgr could not lock the db file"

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0
• VMware vSphere ESXi 8.0

Issue/Introduction

vMotion fails intermittently with below error:

Failed to receive migration.  The source detected that the destination failed to resume.
An error occurred restoring the virtual machine state during migration. NamespaceMgr could not lock the db file.

The destination ESXi host vmware.log shows the following messages:

[YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS] In(05) vmx - [msg.checkpoint.migration.failedReceive] Failed to receive migration.
[YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS] In(05) vmx - [msg.namespaceMgr.noLock] NamespaceMgr could not lock the db file.
[YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS] In(05) vmx - [msg.checkpoint.mrestoregroup.failed] An error occurred restoring the virtual machine state during migration.
[YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS] In(05) vmx - Msg_Post: Error
[YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS] In(05) vmx - [msg.checkpoint.mrestoregroup.failed] An error occurred restoring the virtual machine state during migration.
[YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS] In(05) vmx - [msg.namespaceMgr.noLock] NamespaceMgr could not lock the db file.
[YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS] In(05) vmx - [msg.checkpoint.migration.failedReceive] Failed to receive migration.
[YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS] In(05) vmx - ----------------------------------------
[YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS] In(05) vmx - Module 'CheckpointLate' power on failed.

Note: To identify the correct vmware.log on the destination host, see Locating virtual machine log files on an ESXi host.

Environment

VMware ESXi 8.0 U2b or higher (23305546)
VMware ESXi 7.0 U3q or higher (23794027)

This issue has a higher frequency on VM hardware versions <= 19.

The issue only impacts VM's provisioned on shared datastores other than NFS (VMFS, vSAN, VVOL) and use a namespace DB. A namespace DB will be used under certain environment conditions such as SDMP from vROps, guest introspection for NSX, etc..  

Resolution

There is no resolution available for this issue right now. Engineering is actively working towards fixing this issue.

Workaround

The issue is intermittent in nature and there is no reliable/permanent workaround known for this. Attempt one of the two workarounds:

1. If vMotion is failing consistently for a VM, try suspending/resuming or power cycling the VM to break the failure cycle. It might resolve the issue temporarily and may need to be repeated again in future if vMotion starts failing consistently for the VM again.
2. For intermittent vMotion failures for a VM, retrying vMotion is recommended.