Resolving "Datastore is in Multiple Datacenters" Alert in vCenter

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

vCenter displays an alert: "Datastore is in multiple datacenters." This issue occurs when a VMFS datastore is mounted across different datacenters while Storage DRS is enabled at the cluster level.

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 7.x

VMware vCenter Server 8.x

Cause

Storage DRS is designed to function within a single datacenter and does not support managing storage resources across multiple datacenters. When a datastore spans multiple datacenters, Storage DRS encounters conflicts in storage resource management, leading to the alert.

Resolution

Having vmfs datastore presented across different datacenters with storage DRS enabled is not supported. 

To resolve the issue, consider the following options:

1. Disable Storage DRS for datastores that are mounted across multiple datacenters.

2. Use Backend LUN or Storage-Level Data Copy/Mirroring to maintain storage consistency across different locations.

3. Manually Manage Storage Placement post disabling Storage DRS.

Additional Information

When a VM is migrated between hosts or datacenters, its MAC address may change, which can lead to network conflicts. Ensure MAC address consistency or take necessary measures to prevent networking issues.