vSAN VMs inaccessible after a cluster shutdown and restart
Article ID: 393357
Updated On:
Products
Issue/Introduction
After powering on the hosts of a vSAN Cluster following a planned shutdown, some or all Virtual Machines (VMs) show as inaccessible in the vSphere Client or Invalid in the Host UI. The vSAN Datastore may appear empty, and the vSAN Cluster Restart task may fail to complete.
Symptoms
- VMs in vCenter inventory show as
(inaccessible). - vSAN Datastore does not show any files or VM folders.
- Running the recovery script fails with a timeout
python /usr/lib/vmware/vsan/bin/reboot_helper.py recoverChecking network status...Recovery is not ready, retry after 10s...Timeout, please try again later
The vSAN Cluster was shutdown via the Shutdown Wizard in the vCenter Web Client for planned cluster maintenance.
After powering on the hosts of the vSAN Cluster, some or all of the VMs show as inaccessible in the vCenter Web Client (if available) and as Invalid in the Host UI
vCenter Web Client:
Host UI:
vSAN Datastore is not showing any VMs
After clicking the Restart Button in vCenter Web Client (if available) the task doesn't complete successfully.
Hosts show as disconnected in the vCenter Web Client.
Environment
VMware vSAN (All versions).
Cause
During the vSAN Cluster Shutdown workflow, advanced parameters are set to 1 to protect data. Specifically, /VSAN/DOMPauseAllCCPs pauses all vSAN component operations. If the restart script fails to run (e.g., due to host connectivity issues), these values are not reverted to 0, leaving objects inaccessible.
Resolution
Modify the advanced parameters on all affected hosts in the cluster to return them to the default setting of 0.
- Log into each ESXi host via SSH as root.
- Check the current value of
DOMPauseAllCCPs:esxcfg-advcfg -g /VSAN/DOMPauseAllCCPs - If the value is
1, reset it to0esxcfg-advcfg -s 0 /VSAN/DOMPauseAllCCPs - Check the current value of
IgnoreClusterMemberListUpdatesesxcfg-advcfg -g /VSAN/IgnoreClusterMemberListUpdates - If the value is
1, reset it to0esxcfg-advcfg -s 0 /VSAN/IgnoreClusterMemberListUpdates
Verify that VMs are now accessible in the inventory. If the issue persists, contact .
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