vSphere HA agent on host cannot reach some management network addresses of other hosts

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi
• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Following alert is triggered on the ESXi host(s):

vSphere HA agent on host cannot reach some management network addresses of other hosts

Environment

• vCenter Server 8.x
• vCenter Server 7.x
• vSphere ESX 8.x
• vSphere ESX 7.x

Cause

• On the ESX host, multiple VMkernel adapters have Management service enabled.

[root@              :~] esxcli network ip interface ipv4 address list
Name  IPv4 Address     IPv4 Netmask   IPv4 Broadcast   Address Type  Gateway           DHCP DNS
----  ---------------  -------------  ---------------  ------------  ---------------  --------
vmk0                   255.255.255.0                   STATIC                            false
vmk3                   255.255.255.0                   STATIC                            false
[root@              :~]
[root@              :~] esxcli network ip interface tag get -i vmk0
   Tags: VMotion, Management
[root@              :~] esxcli network ip interface tag get -i vmk3
   Tags: vSphereReplication, VMotion, Management

• Having Management service enabled on multiple VMkernel adapters creates conflict with vSphere HA communication as an ESXi host can choose any one VMkernel adapter which has Management Service enabled on it.

Resolution

Ensure that the management service is enabled on only one VMkernel adapter.

Additional Information

Networks Used for vSphere HA Communications