Graceful shutdown of ESXi by the UPS solution fails during a power outage.

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi
• VMware vSphere ESXi 8.0
• VMware vCenter Server 8.0
• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Some UPS systems offer solutions designed to shut down ESXi hosts based on events detected by the UPS, such as a power outage.
(For example, PowerChute Network Shutdown by Schneider Electric)
These solutions aim to protect data by shutting down ESXi before the UPS battery is depleted and a complete power loss occurs.

Even if such a solution is configured, the ESXi host doesn't shut down gracefully, resulting in a abrupt power off as the UPS battery is depleted.

• There are no logs indicating the initiation of a shutdown, as described in Resolution section of the KB 317245

Cause

Some of these UPS solutions run inside a virtual machine on the ESXi and initiate a shutdown of the ESXi over the network.

In scenarios like the following, the shutdown request cannot reach to the ESXi during a power loss:

• ESXi's VMkernel NIC and the virtual machine network are located on different network segments.
• Traffic between these segments is routed through a router external to the ESXi host.
• The network path is not protected by a UPS (the ESXi host loses connectivity to the external router upon power loss).

Resolution

Ensure that the UPS solution and ESXi can maintain communication each other even in the event of a power outage.
As specific communication mechanisms vary by product, contact your UPS vendor for details.