vMotion of virtual machines in a vSphere Cluster fails.

Products

• VMware vCenter Server 7.0
• VMware vCenter Server 8.0
• VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0
• VMware vSphere ESXi 8.0

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• Error received while relocating VM:
  
  "A general system error occurred: Launch failure 2025-03-26T00:58:06.868785Z Device 'Bootstrap' is not available. ThrowableProxy.cause Device 'Bootstrap' is not available. 2025-03-26T00:58:06.868785Z"

 

• /var/log/vmware/vpxd/vpxd.log (from vCenter):

 

2025-03-26T12:00:55.342+11:00 error vpxd[07936] [Originator@6876 sub=VmProv opID=m7l3j98o-839399-auto-hzoo-h5:70119182-8-01] Local-VC Host Migrate failed at vpx.vmprov.InitiateDestination for poweredOn VM <VM-name>' (vm-######, ds:///vmfs/volumes/########-########/<VM-directory>/VM.vmx) on host-###### (#.#.#.#) in pool resgroup-#### with ds ds:///vmfs/volumes/########-########/ to host-#### (#.#.#.#) in pool resgroup-#### with ds ds:///vmfs/volumes/########-########/ with migId 6616053637768681200 with fault vmodl.fault.SystemError:

2025-03-26T12:00:55.489+11:00 info vpxd[07936] [Originator@6876 sub=Default opID=m7l3j98o-839399-auto-hzoo-h5:70119182-8-01] [VpxLRO] -- ERROR lro-68042386 -- vm-146466 -- vim.VirtualMachine.relocate: vmodl.fault.SystemErr
or:
--> Result:
--> (vmodl.fault.SystemError) {
-->    faultCause = (vim.fault.GenericVmConfigFault) {
-->       faultCause = (vmodl.MethodFault) null,
-->       faultMessage = (vmodl.LocalizableMessage) [
-->          (vmodl.LocalizableMessage) {
-->             key = "msg.vigor.deviceNotAvailable",
-->             arg = (vmodl.KeyAnyValue) [
-->                (vmodl.KeyAnyValue) {
-->                   key = "1",
-->                   value = "Bootstrap"
-->                }
-->             ],
-->             message = "Device 'Bootstrap' is not available."
-->          },
-->          (vmodl.LocalizableMessage) {
-->             key = "faultTime",
-->             arg = <unset>,
-->             message = "2025-03-26T00:58:06.868785Z"
-->          }
-->       ],
-->       reason = "Device 'Bootstrap' is not available."
-->       msg = "Device 'Bootstrap' is not available."
-->    },
-->    faultMessage = (vmodl.LocalizableMessage) [
-->       (vmodl.LocalizableMessage) {
-->          key = "msg.vigor.deviceNotAvailable",
-->          arg = (vmodl.KeyAnyValue) [
-->             (vmodl.KeyAnyValue) {
-->                key = "1",
-->                value = "Bootstrap"
-->             }
-->          ],
-->          message = "Device 'Bootstrap' is not available."
-->       },
-->       (vmodl.LocalizableMessage) {
-->          key = "faultTime",
-->          arg = <unset>,
-->          message = "2025-03-26T00:58:06.868785Z"
-->       }

 

Environment

vSphere vCenter 7.x

vSphere vCenter 8.x

vSphere ESXi 7.x

vSphere ESXi 8.x

Cause

no_root_squash is not configured on NetApp storage for the NFS path resulting in ESXi hosts not having root privileges to vmotion VM files (vmx, vmdk, vswap and others).

Resolution

Configure no_root_squash (to disable root squashing) on NetApp NFS mount to ensure superuser access is passed on to the ESXi hosts.

Refer following NetApp to configure no_root_squash :
https://kb.netapp.com/on-prem/ontap/da/NAS/NAS-KBs/How_to_configure_no_root_squash_for_ONTAP_9