Drift for VM_overhead_growth_limit after DRS enablement in vSphere Configuration Profiles

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Compliance checks for clusters utilizing vSphere Configuration Profiles (VCP) report configuration drift for the VM_overhead_growth_limit advanced option. This issue typically occurs following DRS enablement or remediation on clusters where both vSAN and DRS are active. 

Compliance checks report a drift for the following advanced option: /profile/esx/advanced_options/mem/VM_overhead_growth_limit

• The VCP desired configuration document contains the default value: 4294967295.
• The actual hosts show a value of: 0

Environment

• VMware vSphere ESXi 9.1

Cause

The vSphere Configuration Profiles platform does not currently support DRS configurations. Enabling DRS triggers a host specification synchronization, which updates the VM_overhead_growth_limit advanced option on the host. Because the VCP desired configuration document is not automatically updated during this synchronization, a drift is detected 

Resolution

To resolve the compliance drift, manually update the desired configuration document:

1. Identify the affected cluster in the vSphere Client.
2. Locate and edit the desired configuration document for the cluster.
3. Search for the following advanced option: /profile/esx/advanced_options/mem/VM_overhead_growth_limit
4. Change the value from 4294967295 to 0 to match the host's actual state.
5. Save the configuration document.
6. Perform a new compliance check to verify that the drift is no longer reported