ESXi host stays at 17% while entering maintenance mode and finally times out

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi 8.0

Issue/Introduction

An ESXi host that has been instructed to enter maintenance mode may show "in progress" for an indefinite amount of time under Tasks in the vCenter server.

• When the host is upgraded to 8.0U3 and there were two hosts already upgraded to 8.0U3
• There is an vCLS VM locating on local datastore

Environment

ESXi 8.0U3

Cause

1. The vCLS VM is on local datastore, which can not be migrated by DRS
2. The retreat mode does not work since there are already 2 embedded vCLS deployed in cluster

Resolution

Power off the vCLS VM and remove it from disk.