Unable to place ESXi host into maintenance mode when using vSphere with Tanzu

Products

• VMware vSphere Kubernetes Service

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms

• When using vSphere with Tanzu attempting to place an ESXi host into maintenance mode fails with the error "Request cancelled by user"
• There are no DRS faults displayed under Cluster > Monitor > vSphere DRS > Faults. Note: You may be be able to see the faults related to this issue if you re-log into the vSphere client or use incognito mode to log into the vSphere client.
• Attempting to manually migrate the VMs to another ESXi hosts gives you the warning:
  
  "Solution WCP Service manages the selected virtual machine. You should not modify the virtual machine directly. Use the management console of the solution to make changes."
  
  

  This option is not available because you do not have the required permissions.

• You receive this warning even if you're logged into the vSphere client as [email protected]

Environment

vSphere with Tanzu 8

Resolution

Two potential resolutions for this issue are:

1. The vSphere with Tanzu Supervisor's cluster's DRS level is not set to Fully Automated, which is a requirement for vSphere with Tanzu. See the following documentation for the requirements of Tanzu Supervisor: Install and Configure NSX for vSphere Supervisor (this documentation is valid even if you're using NSX-ALB or HAProxy)
   
   
2. The vSphere with Tanzu Supervisor's cluster's EVC level is not set properly or not set at all and you have ESXi hosts in the cluster with CPUs that are incompatible. Please see How to Change the vSphere EVC Mode for Your Cluster for more information on EVC.