HCX vMotion Fails with "Connection Closed by Remote Host" Due to Target Host Connectivity

Products

• VMware HCX

Issue/Introduction

Attempts to perform HCX migrations or vMotion to a remote site fail with a system error. The source side reports a "precopy" failure and "stream keepalive read" failure, while the target side indicates a timeout waiting for migration data.

• Source Error: Migration to host <REDACTED_IP> failed with error Connection closed by remote host, possibly due to timeout (195887167).

• Target Error: A general system error occurred: vMotion failed: unknown error msg.checkpoint.migration.noprogress:Timed out waiting for migration data.

• Symptoms: Intermittent migration success where a single random VM may succeed while others in a group fail.

Environment

VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF)

HCX 4.11.x

Cause

Underlying vMotion connectivity or configuration issue specifically on a single destination ESXi host within the target cluster.

Resolution

 

1. Identify the specific target ESXi host chosen by DRS during the failed migration attempts (e.g., Host 4).

   • This can be done by navigating to the HCX Migration, click on the VM name > Events.
     

2. Validate local vMotion functionality by attempting to migrate a virtual machine to and from the suspected host within the local target environment. To know more about vMotion troubleshooting, refer to the article here --> Troubleshooting vMotion Issue

3. Place the identified problematic host into Maintenance Mode to prevent DRS from selecting it as a migration target.

   • If you are unable to place the host into Maintenance Mode, please utilize HCX Bulk Migration feature instead of vMotion until the vMotion connectivity issue is resolved. 

4. Retry the HCX Migration.