Stretched vSAN Cluster Becomes Standard Cluster and Shows “Witness Not Found” Warning

Products

• VMware vSAN 8.x
• VMware vSAN 7.x

Issue/Introduction

You may observe that a previously configured Stretched vSAN Cluster is now displayed as a Standard vSAN Cluster in the vSphere Client.

Additional observations include:

• The Witness host was disconnected and removed from vCenter Server.
• From vSAN > Skyline Health, the following warning appears:

“Witness Not Found”

• Cluster health may show reduced availability or misconfigured topology alerts.

Environment

VMware vSAN 7.x
VMware vSAN 8.x

Cause

This issue occurs when the Stretched Cluster Disable procedure is not performed before removing the Witness host.

In a Stretched vSAN configuration, the Witness host stores witness components required for maintaining quorum between fault domains.
If the Witness host is manually removed or disconnected without disabling Stretched Cluster, the configuration remains partially active, leading to the “Witness Not Found” warning in Skyline Health.

Resolution

To resolve the issue, ensure that the Stretched Cluster is properly disabled and the Witness configuration is fully removed.

Step 1: Proper Procedure (Preventive)

When decommissioning a Stretched vSAN cluster:

1. In vSphere Client, navigate to Cluster > Configure > vSAN > Services.
2. Click Disable Stretched Cluster.
3. After disabling is complete, remove the Witness host from vCenter Server.

This ensures that vSAN topology and metadata are correctly updated.

Step 2: Corrective Action (If Witness Already Removed)

If the cluster already shows “Witness Not Found” and the Witness host has been deleted:

Use the RVC command to manually remove the stale Witness configuration:

Refer to the following KB article for detailed steps:
Configuring Stretched Cluster Results in “A specified parameter was not correct - Witness host already configured in stretched cluster” (KB 326817)

That article includes the RVC command:

vsan.stretchedcluster.remove_witness /<vcenter>/<datacenter>/computers/<cluster_name>

Run this command from the vCenter Server RVC console to clear the invalid Witness configuration.

Once completed, recheck vSAN Skyline Health — the “Witness Not Found” warning should clear automatically after the next health refresh.