vMotion Fails at 32% When VM is on ESXi Local Storage

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

When attempting to put an ESXi host into maintenance mode or manually migrate a virtual machine (VM) in a VMware vSphere 7.0 environment, the operation may fail and become stuck at 32% progress. This issue occurs specifically when the VM is stored on local storage of the ESXi host.

Environment

- VMware vCenter Server 7.0 or later
- VMware ESXi 7.0 or later
- VM stored on local storage of an ESXi host

Cause

The vMotion operation fails because the VM is located on local storage that is not accessible to other hosts in the cluster. vMotion requires shared storage accessible by both source and destination hosts to successfully migrate VMs.

Resolution

To resolve this issue, follow these steps:

1. Identify VMs on local storage:
   a. Log in to the vSphere Client.
   b. Select the problematic ESXi host.
   c. Go to the "VMs" tab.
   d. Check the "Datastore" column to identify VMs on local storage.

2. Migrate the VM to shared storage:
   a. Right-click on the VM identified in step 1.
   b. Select "Migrate" from the context menu.
   c. Choose "Change storage only" as the migration type.
   d. Select a shared datastore accessible by all hosts in the cluster.
   e. Complete the migration wizard and wait for the process to finish.

3. Verify vMotion network configuration:
   a. Select the ESXi host in the vSphere Client.
   b. Go to the "Configure" tab.
   c. Under "Networking," select "VMkernel adapters."
   d. Ensure a VMkernel adapter is configured for vMotion with a static IP.
   e. Repeat this step for all hosts in the cluster.

4. Test vMotion functionality:
   a. Attempt to put the ESXi host into maintenance mode.
   b. If successful, exit maintenance mode.
   c. Try manually migrating the VM to another host in the cluster.

5. If issues persist, check for other potential causes:
   a. Review DRS and HA settings for proper configuration.
   b. Ensure all hosts in the cluster have compatible CPU families.
   c. Verify that vMotion is not disabled for the specific VM.