NSX Transport Node Upgrade fails due to Zerto Virtual Replication Appliance

Products

• VMware NSX

Issue/Introduction

• vLCM-based transport node upgrade groups fail to be upgraded:
  Upgrade failed: Failed getting host recommendation from DRS to enter maintenance mode for cluster <Cluster-Name>. Reason: 'Virtual machine <Z-VRA-Name> on host <ESXi Name> would violate a virtual machine - host affinity rule.'.

Cause

The Zerto solution sets up a virtual replication appliance (Z-VRA) on each ESXi host within the cluster and establishes a "must run" affinity rule between the virtual machine and its corresponding ESXi host. When a host is manually placed into maintenance mode, the Z-VRA is automatically shut down, preventing any errors from occurring. However, this issue arises during a cluster-level upgrade of Transport Nodes based on vLCM.

Resolution

This is a known issue impacting VMware NSX.

Workaround:

• Manually shutdown the Z-VRA VMs before the vLCM-based TN group upgrade.

• Contact Zerto support to manually power off Zerto Site - How to Prepare to Power Off a Site with Zerto Virtual Replication Installed

Additional Information

Unable to remediate the host at cluster level due to "unable to put the host in maintenance mode" error