vMotion fails with Error-"Necessary Module isn't loaded".

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• Unable to vMotion a virtual machine
• Even if the vMotion is enabled on the vmkernel adaptor, vMotion fails with below error
  

  Error Message- The vMotion failed because the destination host did not receive data from the source host on the vMotion network. Please check your vMotion network settings and physical network configuration and ensure they are correct. Failed to initialize migration at source. Error 195887200, Necessary module isn't loaded!

  
  

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0

Cause

This issue occurs because the vMotion module fails to load

Resolution

To resolve the issue vMotion Module needs to be enabled.

1. Click the host in vCenter Server and then click the Configuration tab.
2. Click Properties on the vSwitch where the vMotion VMkernel port group is located.
3. Click the vMotion port group and click Edit.
4. Deselect the vMotion Enabled option.
5. Click OK and then click Close.
6. Connect to the host using SSH.
7. Run this command to verify if the vMotion module is loaded:
   

   vmkload_mod -l | grep migrate

8. If the above command does not return any values, run this command to load the module:
   

   vmkload_mod migrate

9. Run this command and verify if the vMotion module is now loaded:
   

   vmkload_mod -l | grep migrate

10. Run this command to restart services:
    

    services.sh restart

11. Repeat Steps 1 to 3 and select the vMotion Enabled option. This enables vMotion.
12. Migrate virtual machines to another host.
13. Reboot the host.
    Note: Rebooting the host is suggested to verify that the migrate module will load properly during subsequent reboots.
    Run this command to verify if the vMotion module loads properly:
    

    vmkload_mod -l | grep migrate

    You must see an output similar to:
    

    vmkload_mod -l | grep migrate
    migrate 2 252

Additional Information

The issue can also occur if the (nrdma and nrdma_vmkapi_shi) module value are set to disabled, Documented in KB- vMotion fails with error "Failed to start migration: Necessary module isn't loaded"