Creating new VM results in error "There are storage DRS faults on the page. Resolve the faults before continuing"

Products

• VMware vCenter Server 7.0
• VMware vCenter Server 8.0

Issue/Introduction

• VM Deployment task fails even from the ESXi UI.
• Below log snippets could be observed.
  • /var/log/vmware/vsphere-ui/logs/vsphere_client_virgo.log

[YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS] [ERROR] http-nio-5090-exec-1525      71189500 113157 200764 c.v.v.client.vm.storageDrs.impl.StorageRecommendationsValidator   com.vmware.vim.vmomi.client.exception.ConnectionException: http://localhost:1080/external-vecs/http2/vcenter-fqdn/443/sdk invocation failed with "java.net.SocketTimeoutException: 600,000 milliseconds timeout on connection http-outgoing-28382 [ACTIVE]"]

• • /var/log/vmware/vsphere-ui/logs/opid.log

[YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS] [ERROR] http-nio-5090-exec-1525      71189500 113157 200764 Invocation of 'void com.vmware.vim.binding.vim.StorageResourceManager.recommendDatastores(com.vmware.vim.binding.vim.storageDrs.StoragePlacementSpec,com.vmware.vim.vmomi.core.Future)' for https://vcenter-fqdn:443/sdk (guid=3de21686-####-####-####-d2967fc43fe3, id=######) for opId 'm2fxe2mf-######-auto-####-h5:71189500' failed in 600559 ms, error: com.vmware.vim.vmomi.client.exception.ConnectionException: http://localhost:1080/external-vecs/http2/vcenter-fqdn/443/sdk invocation failed with "java.net.SocketTimeoutException: 600,000 milliseconds timeout on connection http-outgoing-28382 [ACTIVE]"

[YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS] [WARN ] http-nio-5090-exec-1525       Request processing for opId 'm2fxe2mf-######-auto' to URL /ui/mutation/validate/urn%3Avmomi%3AVirtualMachine%3Avm-#######%3A3de21686-6c7f-40a3-b237-d2967fc43fe3 took too long: 600578 ms

• • /var/log/vmware/vpxd/vpxd.log

YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS info vpxd[39097] [Originator@6876 sub=vpxLro opID=m2fxe2mf-#######-auto-####-h5:71189500-e9] [VpxLRO] -- BEGIN lro-1214853025 -- StorageResourceManager -- vim.StorageResourceManager.recommendDatastores -- 521db0c8-####-####-####-26a0a8930554(52ad7d6a-65fa-9f38-13a2-2589464a02a9)

YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS error vpxd[14140] [Originator@6876 sub=vmomi.soapStub[392875] opID=m2fxe2mf-######-auto-#####-h5:71189500-e9] Initial service state request failed, disabling pings; /invsvc/vmomi/sdk, , <TCP '127.0.0.1 : 10080'>>>, HTTP Status:400 'Bad Request'

YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS info vpxd[14066] [Originator@6876 sub=vpxLro opID=sps-Main-328281-###-######-68] [VpxLRO] -- BEGIN session[5265c884-####-####-2127-8a2431a0fc5a]5295ae6f-####-####-566b-dbeae5883cc6 -- CatalogSyncManager -- vim.vslm.vcenter.CatalogSyncManager.queryCatalogChange -- 5265c884-####-####-2127-8a2431a0fc5a(524bf87c-####-####-####-d318762e14a7)
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS error vpxd[14066] [Originator@6876 sub=HostPicker opID=sps-Main-328281-###-######-68] Couldn't find any candidate hosts for the provided urls
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS warning vpxd[14066] [Originator@6876 sub=Vmomi opID=sps-Main-328281-###-######-68] VMOMI activation LRO failed; <<5265c884-####-####-2127-8a2431a0fc5a, <TCP '127.0.0.1 : 8085'>, <TCP '127.0.0.1 : 38242'>>, CatalogSyncManager, vim.vslm.vcenter.CatalogSyncManager.queryCatalogChange>, N3Vim5Fault21InaccessibleDatastore9ExceptionE(Fault cause: vim.fault.InaccessibleDatastore
--> )
--> 
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS info vpxd[14066] [Originator@6876 sub=Default opID=sps-Main-328281-###-######-68] [VpxLRO] -- ERROR session[5265c884-####-####-2127-8a2431a0fc5a]5295ae6f-####-####-566b-dbeae5883cc6 -- CatalogSyncManager -- vim.vslm.vcenter.CatalogSyncManager.queryCatalogChange: vim.fault.InaccessibleDatastore:
--> Result:
--> (vim.fault.InaccessibleDatastore) {
-->    faultCause = (vmodl.MethodFault) null,
-->    faultMessage = ,
-->    datastore = 'vim.Datastore:3de21686-####-####-####-d2967fc43fe3:datastore-######',
-->    name = "Datastore-Name-14",
-->    detail = "notAccessible"
-->    msg = ""
--> }
--> Args:
-->
--> Arg catalogChangeSpec:
--> (vim.vslm.CatalogChangeSpec) {
-->    datastore = 'vim.Datastore:datastore-#######',
-->    startVClockTime = (vim.vslm.VClockInfo) {
-->       vClockTime = 0
-->    },
-->    fullSync = false
--> }

• • /var/log/vmware/vmware-sps/sps.log

YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS [jaeger.RemoteReporter-QueueProcessor] WARN  opId=sps-Main-328281-438 io.jaegertracing.internal.reporters.RemoteReporter - FlushCommand execution failed! Repeated errors of this command will not be logged.
io.jaegertracing.internal.exceptions.SenderException: Failed to flush spans.
        ... 3 more
Caused by: org.apache.thrift.transport.TTransportException: Cannot flush closed transport
        at io.jaegertracing.thrift.internal.reporters.protocols.ThriftUdpTransport.flush(ThriftUdpTransport.java:151) ~[jaeger-thrift-1.6.0.jar:1.6.0]

Environment

• VMware vCenter Server 8.x
• VMware vCenter Server 7.x

Cause

This issue occurs when Storage DRS cannot place new virtual machines due to one or more of the following reasons:

• Datastore utilization exceeds the configured threshold, blocking new VM creation.
• Storage DRS rules prevent placement because the VM does not yet exist during creation.
• Datastore is inaccessible or offline.
• Network or connection timeouts between vCenter, ESXi hosts, or storage.

These conditions stop VM deployment at the cluster level.

Resolution

To resolve the issue, please follow any of the below steps:

• Add a new datastore or increase the size of the existing datastore to ensure sufficient space for VM deployment.
• Remove or modify any configured rules or policies that are causing Storage DRS faults, such as affinity/anti-affinity rules or storage policies that block VM creation.
• Alternatively, deploy or create the virtual machine directly on a specific datastore instead of the datastore cluster.
• Temporarily disable Storage DRS on the datastore cluster, create the VM, and then re-enable Storage DRS.

These actions address both storage capacity constraints and DRS rule conflicts that can prevent VM creation.