Moving ESXi Host and vCenter Networking from Virtual Standard Switch to Virtual Distributed Switch Fails with Error "The specified key, name, or identifier already exists, the host is already a member of VDS infrastructure."

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

• When moving host networking and the vCenter VM's networking from a virtual Standard Switch (vSS) to virtual Distributed Switch (vDS), the host is added to the vDS but the operation fails with the error "The specified key, name, or identifier already exists, the host is already a member of VDS infrastructure."
• No networking is actually moved from the vSS to the vDS (vmnics, vmkernel adapters, or VM network adapters)

Environment

VMware vCenter Server

VMware vSphere ESXi

Cause

Since the host is added to the vDS, this suggests that there is an issue with vCenter getting moved to it's distributed port group. Network interruption to the vCenter appliance can cause migration operations to fail. 

Resolution

1. To work around this issue, migrate the vCenter VM to another host (vSS > vDS vMotion is supported). 
2. After vCenter is migrated to another host: Use the Add and Manage Hosts wizard to add the ESXi host, move its vmnics to vDS uplinks, and move and vmkernel/VM networking to their respective distributed port groups.