vMotion fails with error 'A general system error occurred: vDS host error'

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

• While doing vmotion vMotion is failing when going to a specific datastore but successful on other datastores.
  
  
• vCenter UI shows error -

  Cannot create DVPort #### of VDS dvSwitch# on the host ####

  

• The location less /var/run/log/hostd.log show following error -

  warning hostd[2101110] [Originator@6876 sub=Hostsvc.NetworkProvider opID=m9g0####-####-auto-w5-h5:7000####-f4-##-9f-##-90-bf06 user=vpxuser] Skip saving  dvport dvSwitch0-298## to /vmfs/volumes/633430d5-####-####-ecb1d77e38f0/.dvsData/#### ## #### ## ## ##-## ## ## ## ## ## ## ##/298##: failed to create dir

  
  
  
• Editing or creating a folder inside affected datastore in the .dvsDATA folder fails.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 
VMware vCenter Server

Cause

The error suggests a problem with the datastore's ability to persist Distributed Virtual Switch (VDS) metadata, specifically under the .dvsData directory. When vMotion attempts to migrate a VM to this datastore, it fails to create or write necessary DVPort configuration files. This behavior typically points to an underlying storage issue or file system-level permission problem on the affected datastore.

The issue does not occur with other datastores, further indicating that the problem is isolated to one specific datastore.

Resolution

Workaround: Perform a Storage vMotion of the affected VM to a different datastore.

Additionally, verify the health and status of the affected datastore by checking:

• Datastore accessibility from all hosts
• Free space and inode usage
• File system integrity
• Storage array or backend issues (such as latency, controller faults, or pathing errors)

Engage your storage administrator or vendor if the issue persists after these checks.

Reference KB for troubleshooting ESXi datastore -

Troubleshooting ESXi datastore or VMFS volume that is full or near capacity