HCX Bulk migrations are failing as the VM fail to power on with error message "Failed to attach filter 'esx_splitter' to scsi0:0: Not found"

Products

• VMware HCX

Issue/Introduction

• You are using HCX Bulk migration to migrate the VM. 
• HCX Bulk migration fails to power on the VM. 
• In the /common/logs/admin/app.log file of the Destination HCX, there are entries similar to:
  

  2025-04-21 07:14:40.586 UTC [ReplicationTransferService_SvcThread-6513, Ent: HybridityAdmin, , TxId: TxId: ######-####-####-####-############] ERROR c.v.v.h.m.common.DrsPowerOnJob- PowerOn task 'task-######' for Virtual Machine 'vm-#####' failed due to '(vim.fault.GenericVmConfigFault) {
     faultCause = null,
     faultMessage = (vmodl.LocalizableMessage) [
        com.vmware.vim.binding.impl.vmodl.LocalizableMessageImpl@45ef7a9e,
        com.vmware.vim.binding.impl.vmodl.LocalizableMessageImpl@4b289c53,
        com.vmware.vim.binding.impl.vmodl.LocalizableMessageImpl@4f1711ee,
        com.vmware.vim.binding.impl.vmodl.LocalizableMessageImpl@a159668
     ],
     reason = Failed to attach filter 'esx_splitter' to scsi0:0: Not found (195887107). ,
     messageInfo = null
  }'

 

Environment

VMware HCX 

Cause

This issue usually occurs if there is a VIB module installed on the source ESXi host that is not present on the destination ESXi host.

Types of known filters causing issues:

• vShield Endpoint --> scsi0:0.filters = "VFILE"
• Proximal Data AutoCache --> scsi0:0.filters = “pxdacf_filter”
• Acronis Backup solution --> scsi0:0.filters = "active_drive"
• Host-Based Replication --> scsi0:0.filters = "hbr_filter"
• Dell RecoverPoint  --> scsi0:0.filters = "esx_splitter"
• some stale entries like --> scsi0:0.filters = "none"

Resolution

Remove the configuration following the steps and retry the migration. 

1. Shut down the affected virtual machine.
2. Connect to the ESXi host on which the virtual machine resides using SSH.
3. Navigate to the virtual machines .vmx file using this command:
   

   cd /vmfs/volumes/<datastore path>/<virtual machine folder>/

4. Open the .vmx file with a text editor:
   

   vi virtual_machine.vmx

5. Add a # before any filters that contain scsi0:0.filters.
6. Save the changes and exit the text editor.
7. Migrate the virtual machine to a different ESXi host.
8. Power on the virtual machine.
9. Perform the migration.

Additional Information

A similar issue was related to the vSphere vMotion - KB 344059