Putting the datastore in maintenance mode fails with the error: "Storage DRS does not allow shared datastores across datacenters"

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Symptom:

• When attempting to put a datastore into maintenance mode, you receive the following error message:

       "Storage DRS does not allow shared datastores across datacenters"

• Datastore can be shared with a single host or multiple hosts

Environment

VMware vCenter 7.x
VMware vCenter 8.x

Cause

This error indicates a logical inconsistency in the vCenter Server inventory. While a physical storage LUN can be presented to multiple ESXi hosts, vCenter Server expects any single datastore instance that participates in advanced features like Storage DRS to be logically associated with one and only one vCenter
The datastore would be likely presented to hosts residing in different datacenter objects or clusters. This configuration causes vCenter to register the datastore's presence across multiple logical datacenter inventories, leading to the inconsistency.

Resolution

Before proceeding, ensure that none of the following conditions exist:

• The datastore is shared across multiple hosts that belong to different clusters.

• DRS (Distributed Resource Scheduler) is disabled.

• Critical: Verify that there are no active Virtual Machines (VMs) running on this datastore from any ESXi host that is part of the incorrect vCenter Datacenter object.

  • If there are active VMs, you must either:

    • Storage vMotion them to a different datastore, or

    • Power them off if Storage vMotion is not possible or not desired.

If all the above conditions are met, proceed with the steps below.

Resolution Steps

1. Unmount the Datastore from Conflicting Hosts (One by One)

• In the vCenter Server, navigate to the ESXi host.
• Go to Configure > Storage Devices > Datastores.
• Right-click the problematic datastore and select Unmount.

2. Remount the Datastore

• After unmounting it from all conflicting hosts, mount the datastore back on the ESXi host.
• This action should resolve the logical inconsistency.

Additional Information

If you are trying to decommission the datastore, you may safely delete the datastore from the UI or from the VCDB
Reference: Remove datastore from vCenter server