ESXi host client shows VM connecting failed messages for all the VMs as vSAN does not show any objects on it.

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• After an outage, all the VMs including the vCenter VM shows connection failed and in an invalid state.

• vSAN shows no object available:

 

Environment

vSAN 7.x

vSAN 8.x

Cause

This is an expected behaviour when all the hosts in the vSAN cluster are in maintenance mode.

Resolution

Take all the ESXi hosts out of maintenance and the vSAN should start showing the objects available.

If the host does not show in maintenance mode from GUI, check the same from cli using the 'esxcli vsan cluster get' command:

In the ESXi hosts show in maintenance mode from cli but not from GUI, we would need to place the host in maintenance mode with no data migration from the GUI (ESXi host client or vCenter if available) using the below articles:

From vCenter: Place a Host in Maintenance Mode

From ESXi host client: Place a Host in Maintenance Mode in the VMware Host Client

Once the hosts are in maintenance mode, take the hosts out of maintenance using the same method.

The host should reflect the same on cli:

After that, the vSAN should start showing all the objects: