vCenter vpxd service crashes when Kubernetes Cluster API is used to do a combination VM clone and configure operation

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

A direct clone of a VM is successful.

A manual deployment of a VM is successful.

The issue is only happening when the Cluster API is used to do a combination VM clone and configure operation.

When the vpxd service crashes, a core dump file (example - core.vpxd-worker.xxxxxxx) is created in /var/core/ on the vCenter.

Environment

vSphere 8.0U3

Cause

The combination VM clone and configure operation is causing the vpxd service to crash.

Resolution

Isolate the Cluster API operations:

1. Do a simple clone operation (no changes to the VM device/disk properties)

2. Once the step 1 simple clone completes, perform the configuration changes on the cloned VM.