Error: "All required agent virtual machines are not currently deployed on host 'hostname'" when powering on the VM's in a vSAN cluster.
search cancel

Error: "All required agent virtual machines are not currently deployed on host 'hostname'" when powering on the VM's in a vSAN cluster.

book

Article ID: 424257

calendar_today

Updated On:

Products

VMware vSAN

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

  • On a vSAN cluster with vSAN File Services enabled, Powering on VM failed with the error "All required agent virtual machines are not currently deployed on host 'hostname'".

  • DRS also doesn't move the VM's when the ESXi host is put into the maintenance mode or taken out of the maintenance mode.

  • There are no FSVM noticed on the vSAN cluster and the vSAN file services related health check (vSAN File Service Node is unhealthy) are triggered on the vSAN cluster.

Environment

VMware vSAN 7.x

VMware vSAN 8.x

Cause

The issue is caused by the issues noticed on the ESX agent virtual machines. ESX agent virtual machines are similar to services in Windows or Linux. They start when the operating system starts and they stop when it shuts down. The behavior of ESX agent virtual machines is transparent to the user. A vSphere host reaches the ready state when the ESXi operating system has started and all ESX agent virtual machines have been provisioned and powered on.

  • The error message when powering on the VM's  "All required agent virtual machines are not currently deployed on host 'hostname'", means that there are some issues with the ESX agent virtual machines.

  • The VPXD logs show that there are InsufficientAgentVmsDeployed.

2026-01-04T10:50:47.541Z info vpxd[89882] [Originator@6876 sub=cdrsPlmt opID=CdrsLoadBalancer-#######] Vm [vim.VirtualMachine:vm-#######,####-##-515] failed constraint check false on host [vim.HostSystem:host-######,pskyive0008.samsungds.net] with <obj xmlns:xsd="http://www.##.###/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.##.###/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns="urn:#####" versionId="8.0.3.0" xsi:type="LocalizedMethodFault"><fault xsi:type="InsufficientAgentVmsDeployed"><hostName>ESXi_HostName</hostName><requiredNumAgentVms>1</requiredNumAgentVms><currentNumAgentVms>0</currentNumAgentVms></fault><localizedMessage></localizedMessage></obj>

  • When checked the eam logs, the errors "Unexpected work item creation"  and "Cannot access OVF" messages were noticed. 

2026-01-04T10:39:29.334Z | ERROR | vlsi | LegacyAgencyBase.java | 1072 | Invalid agent config!
com.vmware.eam.EamAppException: Unexpected work item creation error.
        at com.vmware.eam.async.workflow.impl.Workflow.instantiateNextWork(Workflow.java:163) ~[eam-server.jar:?]
        at com.vmware.eam.async.workflow.impl.Workflow.<init>(Workflow.java:73) ~[eam-server.jar:?]
       .
        at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:624) [?:1.8.0_412]
        at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:750) [?:1.8.0_412]
Caused by: com.vmware.eam.exception.CannotAccessOVF: Cannot access OVF at http://localhost:1080/external-vecs/http1/####-###-##.########.###/443/vsanHealth/fileService/ovf/7.0.1.1000/VMware-vSAN-File-Services-Appliance-7.0.1.1000-16695758_OVF10.ovf
        at com.vmware.eam.agency.impl.OvfDownloader.downloadInternal(OvfDownloader.java:88) ~[eam-server.jar:?]
        .
        at com.vmware.eam.async.workflow.impl.Workflow.instantiateNextWork(Workflow.java:154) ~[eam-server.jar:?]
        ... 22 more

 

  • When user check the vSphere ESX agent manager "ESX Agencies", the vsan file services agency appears to be disabled and in warning state.

 

Since all the ESXi Agent Manager VM's are not in healthy state, the VM power on and DRS moving the VM's fail to work.

Resolution

The user need to resolve the underlying vSAN File Services Issue. In most cases this occurs when hosts are added to a vSAN File Services enabled cluster after the containers have already been deployed. vSAN FS needs to deploy the containers all at the same time. To resolve this, disable vSAN File Services, and then re-enable it.

(Note: Disabling and Re-enabling vSAN File Services does not delete any data from the shares, nor will it remove the configurations. It will just re-deploy the container VMs so that each host has one so the host can be marked as 'ready' as per DRS. However, access to the shares will be interrupted while the containers are offline, so the user may want to consider a maintenance window or non peak hours in that event.)

If there is no internet connectivity and need to upload the OVF Files, please see the following documentation: Configure File Services (See 'Manual Approach' Method.)

OVF Downloads can be found in the Broadcom support portal: VMware vSphere downloads, VMware Converter, OEM custom images, patches and addons in the Broadcom Support Portal

Powered by Wolken Software