VM is powered-on on another host after performing VM re-configuration

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

After powering off and reconfiguring the VM with, for example, the PowerShell script the VM gets powered-on on another ESXi host.

When performing such an operation on a bulk of VMs in the environment where DRS is NOT fully automated, the VMs will likely be migrated and powered on in only a subset of the hosts in the cluster. 

 

The Tasks section of the VMs will show successful migration by DRS:

Environment

ESXi v8

Cause

DRS is set to Partially Automated - in this mode, DRS will make decisions on which host to power-on the VMs. This is described in the following knowledge base (KB) article: VMware DRS Overview: Optimizing Resource Allocation in vSphere Cluster

 

 

 

Resolution

To prevent VMs from being relocated and powered-on on a different host, set DRS to Manual mode or disable it prior to performing VM re-configuration.