Some virtual machines are not placed on the expected ESXi host by the 'VM Placement Based on Guest OS' feature in VMware Cloud Director 10.6.1

Products

• VMware Cloud Director

Issue/Introduction

VM Placement Based on Guest OS is a new feature of VMware Cloud Director 10.6.1.
After configuring the feature (as documented in  KB VM Placement Based on Guest OS feature usage), some VMs are not placed on the intended ESXi host that is a member of the vSphere Host Group.
Newly created VMs are placed as expected, but VMs created prior to configuring this feature are not placed on the expected ESXi host.

 

Environment

VMware Cloud Director 10.6.1

Cause

There are three possible causes.

1. This feature checks the VM's guest OS setting, but it does not check the actual guest OS version.
2. This feature does not automatically take effect on VMs created prior to configuring this feature. It should take effect during the next reconfiguration.
3. The ESXi host where the VM is registered will not change until the next VM power-on.

Resolution

First, confirm that the guest OS setting is correct in Tenant Portal. If it does not match the guest OS specified for this feature, correct it.
- Open Tenant Portal > Go to VM page >  General > Guest OS section

Then  reconfigure the VM without making any actual setting changes in Tenant Portal . This step is also necessary even if the guest OS setting is correct and you make no changes.
- Open Tenant Portal > Go to VM page >  General > Edit > Save (without making any changes)

You can confirm whether the setting has taken effect by checking if the VM is a member of the expected VM group in vSphere Client.
- Open vSphere Client > target Cluster > Configure > VM/Host Groups under Configuration > target VM group

After performing the above steps, the VM should be automatically placed on the expected ESXi host at the next power-on.