vSphere High Availability (HA) unexpectedly powered on a virtual machine (VM) that was previously in a powered-off state
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vSphere High Availability (HA) unexpectedly powered on a virtual machine (VM) that was previously in a powered-off state

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Article ID: 387832

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Updated On:

Products

VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

  • The fdm.log file displays the following entries across the ESXi host - 

yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss.Z info fdm[13681285] [Originator@XXXX sub=Invt opID=WorkQueue-XXXX] Vm /vmfs/volumes/datastore_name/VM_directory/VM_name.vmx curPwrState=powered off curPowerOnCount=0 newPwrState=powered on clnPwrOff=false hostReporting=__localhost__
yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss.Z verbose fdm[13681285] [Originator@XXX sub=Invt opID=WorkQueue-XXXX] Initialize VmStateChange from inventory for poweredOn vm /vmfs/volumes/datastore_name/VM_directory/VM_name.vmx 

  • The expected entries to be displayed in the fdm.log are as follows - 

yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss.Z info fdm[13681283] [Originator@XXX sub=Invt opID=XXXX Vm /vmfs/volumes/datastore_name/VM_directory/VM_name.vmx  curPwrState=powered on curPowerOnCount=1 newPwrState=powered off clnPwrOff=true hostReporting=__localhost__

Environment

  • VMware vCenter Server 8.0.x
  • VMware vCenter Server 7.0.x
  • VMware vCenter Server 6.x.x

Cause

  • When vSphere HA reports "clnPwrOff=false" in the FDM log, it indicates that the virtual machine was not powered off cleanly. As a result, vSphere HA will attempt to restart the virtual machine.
  • This behavior contrasts with using the DCUI to shut down the host, where vSphere HA marks the virtual machine as "clnPwrOff=true", indicating that the virtual machine was powered off by an administrator, and no restart occurred.
  • To ensure that vSphere HA restarts your virtual machines during a host shutdown, it is recommended to use the vCenter Web Client instead of the DCUI.

Resolution

Best Practice for Powering Off a VM: Please ensure the virtual machine is gracefully shut down.

  • Expected Event After Gracefully Shutting Down the VM - 

yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss.Z info fdm[13681283] [Originator@XXX sub=Invt opID=XXXX Vm /vmfs/volumes/datastore_name/VM_directory/VM_name.vmx  curPwrState=powered on curPowerOnCount=1 newPwrState=powered off clnPwrOff=true hostReporting=__localhost__

 

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