Unable to remediate Desired State Configuration due to pre-check errors

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

When trying to remediate a cluster using Desired State Configuration, pre-checks fail with the error: 

• "Health check issues found." 
• "Checks if the host is ready to enter maintenance mode" 

Cluster and hosts appear healthy, but pre-checks still fail.

Cause

Check for VM affinity rules that may prevent VMs from migrating off the host. This would prevent the host from entering Maintenance Mode in preparation for the remediation. 

Resolution

Check for any affinity rules on the hosts or VMs that would prevent VM migration. 

If rules may be impacting the host entering Maintenance Mode, manually put the host in Maintenance Mode and monitor the VMs. If any VMs do not appear to be migrating, look for affinity rules at Cluster > Configure > VM/Host Rules. 

Find the Rule that corresponds to the left behind VM(s) and disable the rule(s), Verify the VM(s) can migrate to another host and the host can be put in Maintenance Mode.

Once host goes into Maintenance Mode, Run the pre-checks again and remediate if no other problems are present.