vSphere Client shows the error related to violate a virtual machine affinity/anti-affinity rule while running a Remediation Pre-Check for a Cluster

Products

• VMware vCenter Server 8.0

Issue/Introduction

vSphere Client shows the following error while running a Remediation Pre-Check for a Cluster.

Virtual machine 'VM NAME' that runs on host 'ESXi FQDN' reported an issue which prevents entering maintenance mode: This operation would violate a virtual machine affinity/anti-affinity rule.
DRS reported issues that prevent host 'ESXi FQDN' from entering maintenance mode.

Note: You can run a Remediation Pre-Check for a Cluster with these steps:
- On the Updates tab, select Hosts Image.
- In the Image Compliance card, click the Run pre-check button.

Environment

vCenter Server 8.0 U3g

Cause

The virtual machines have some anti-affinity rules, for example 'Separate Virtual Machines', so the ESXi host can not enter the maintenance mode due to it has powered on virtual machines.

You can see these messages in vmware-vum-server.log.

YYYY-mm-ddTHH:MM:SS.NNN+09:00 error vmware-vum-server[166870] [Originator@6876 sub=EHP opID=bae521cf-cc59-441e-baa7-a9d8932b8beb] [com.vmware.vcIntegrity.lifecycle.health.vc.query_what_if_enter_mm]: Enter maintenance mode precheck reports the following issues:
YYYY-mm-ddTHH:MM:SS.NNN+09:00 error vmware-vum-server[166870] [Originator@6876 sub=EHP opID=bae521cf-cc59-441e-baa7-a9d8932b8beb] [com.vmware.vcIntegrity.lifecycle.health.vc.query_what_if_enter_mm]: Virtual machine 'VM NAME' that runs on host 'ESXi FQDN' reported an issue which prevents entering maintenance mode: This operation would violate a virtual machine affinity/anti-affinity rule.

 

Resolution

Disable the affinity/anti-affinity rule, then Run a Remediation Pre-Check and update ESXi hosts via vSphere Life Cycle Manager.