Select Datastore is getting stuck while initializing Storage vMotion

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Users may encounter an issue where Storage vMotion operations get stuck while trying to select the target datastore. The vCenter Server UI might display a spinning progress indicator, or no response at all. This can prevent users from migrating VMs, leading to potential downtime.

On the /var/log/vmware/vpxd/vpxd.log we see:

yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss.mssZ info vpxd[55978] [Originator@6876 sub=vpxLro opID=e6450259-4df3-42f5-bed0-ce05665cladl-129039-c2] [VpxLRO] -- FINISH lro-8870543

yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss.mssZ info vpxd[53289]

191.23.167 : 443'>>), /sdk>, method: login; code: 500 (Internal Server Error) ; fault: (vim. fault. PasswordExpired) {

faultCause = (vmodl.MethodFault) null,

faultMessage = <unset>

msg = "Received SOAP response fault from [<SSL(<io_obj p:0x00007f6718220cf8, h:405, <TCP 'xx.xxx.xx.xx : xxxxx'>, <TCP 'xx.xxx.xx.xx : 443'>>) , /sdk>] : login

-> Cannot complete login due to expired password."

yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss.mssZ error vpxd[53289] [Originator@6876 sub=Vmomi opID=HostSync-host-xxxxx-xxxxxx] Failed to login on host; << last binding: <<TCP 'xx.xxx.xx.xx : xxxxx'>, <TCP 'xx.xxx.xx.xx : 443'>>>, /sdk>, N3Vim5Fault15PasswordE

xpired9ExceptionE (Fault cause: vim. fault. PasswordExpired

-- >

We also see login failures on the vpxd logs:

yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss.mssZ error vpxd[15009] [Originator@6876 sub=Vmomi opID=FdmMonitor-domain-xxxxxxxxxxx] Cannot contact the specified host (xxxxxxxxxxxxxx)

Error: "cannot synchronize host" appears in the host summary page

 

 

Cause

The cause of this issue lies with expired vpxduser accounts on ESXi hosts. The vpxduser account is essential for vCenter Server to manage and communicate with ESXi hosts. When this account's password expires, vCenter Server cannot authenticate with the affected hosts, causing various problems, including Storage vMotion failures.

Resolution

To resolve we need to identify the problem host(s) and remove them from the inventory or refresh the vpxuser by disconnecting and reconnecting the host.

1. Login to the vCenter via SSH as a root user.

2. Go to the vpxd log location cd /var/log/vmware/vpxd and run the following command: zgrep "Last login to" * | grep "failed" | cut -d ' ' -f 11 | sort | uniq    

    This command will list all the ESXi host(s) which have the vpxuser expired.

3. To correct this issue, disconnect and re-connect the ESXi host(s) which are listed on the above command.

4. After that just restart the vpxd service on the vCenter using the following command: service-control --restart vpxd

5. Try doing the storage vMotion and the select Datastore option will be displayed correctly.