Advanced Cross vCenter vMotion fails with error "DistributedVirtualSwitchPortConnection required property switchUuid not set"

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

When performing an Advanced Cross vCenter vMotion (XVC) between different vCenter Server instances, the following error message appears immediately after selecting the destination network in the wizard:

http://localhost:1080/external-vecs/http2/{dest-vcenter}/443/sdk invocation failed with "com.vmware.vim.vmomi.core.exception.MarshallException: DistributedVirtualSwitchPortConnection required property switchUuid not set"

This issue occurs when the user performing the operation is a custom role user who does not have full administrative privileges (e.g., not [email protected]).

Environment

vCenter Server 8.0

Cause

This issue is caused by insufficient permissions on the destination Distributed Virtual Switch (VDS) object for the user performing the migration.
The vSphere Client fails to retrieve the switchUuid property of the target VDS due to lack of privileges.

Resolution

Ensure that the user performing the migration has the appropriate permissions assigned to the target VDS object in the destination vCenter.

1. Log in to the vSphere Client.
2. Navigate to the Networking tab.
3. Select the destination Distributed Virtual Switch (VDS).
4. Click the Permissions tab.
5. Verify if the user (or group) performing the operation is listed.
6. If the user is missing or has insufficient rights, add the user and assign an appropriate role.
   Note: Ensure that "Propagate to children" is enabled where applicable.

Additional Information

For more information on required privileges, please refer to the following documentation:
Distributed Switch Privileges (Broadcom Tech Docs)