Unable to change virtual machine's portgroup from type static to ephemeral binding

Products

• VMware vSphere ESX 8.x

Issue/Introduction

- Modifying distributed portgroup in vCenter from static port binding to ephemeral gives below error 

"A specified parameter was not correct: spec.type The Portgroup type value : ephemeral specified in spec.type cannot be applied at this point because there are vms/hosts connected to the Portgroup type."



- Below log entries are observed in var/log/vpxd.log 

2026-03-17T07:09:02.779Z info vpxd[958426] [Originator@6876 sub=vpxLro opID=mkff1fw7-932031-auto-jz5s-h5:70108471-d9] [VpxLRO] -- FINISH task-2193
2026-03-17T07:09:02.779Z error vpxd[958426] [Originator@6876 sub=Default opID=mkff1fw7-932031-auto-jz5s-h5:70108471-d9] [VpxLRO] -- ERROR task-2193 -- 524ed843-16f2-f9ca-fde7-2288737c46bb(52075a5c-8045-eb9f-bfd3-39f6597e79a4) -- dvportgroup-10xx -- vim.dvs.DistributedVirtualPortgroup.reconfigure: :vmodl.fault.InvalidArgument
--> Result:
--> (vmodl.fault.InvalidArgument) {
-->    faultCause = (vmodl.MethodFault) null,
-->    faultMessage = (vmodl.LocalizableMessage) [
-->       (vmodl.LocalizableMessage) {
-->          key = "com.vmware.vim.vpxd.dvs.invalidArg.notPossible.label",
-->          arg = (vmodl.KeyAnyValue) [
-->             (vmodl.KeyAnyValue) {
-->                key = "property",
-->                value = "Portgroup type"
-->             },
-->             (vmodl.KeyAnyValue) {
-->                key = "val",
-->                value = "ephemeral"
-->             },
-->             (vmodl.KeyAnyValue) {
-->                key = "input",
-->                value = "spec.type"
-->             }
-->          ],
-->          message = <unset>
-->       }
-->    ],
-->    invalidProperty = "spec.type"
-->    msg = ""
--> }

 

Environment

vSphere 8.x 

Cause

When a virtual machine or vmkernel is connected to a port group configured with static binding, a port is immediately assigned and reserved for that item, guaranteeing connectivity at all times.The port is disconnected only when the virtual machine or vmkernel is removed from the port group. 

Resolution

A port group created with static binding cannot be modified to change the binding type . A new port group must be created instead and attached to the virtual machine when changing port binding type from static to ephemeral. 

Below workaround can be used in such scenario : 

• Create a new distributed port group on the same Distributed Switch with the port binding type as Ephemeral.
  
  
• Ensure that the port group setting matches with the existing port group setting i.e. VLAN ID, security policies, and teaming/failover settings etc.
  
  
• Select the impacted VM , click on Action -> Edit Settings -> Network Adapter -> Browse -> Select the newly created portgroup with binding set as 'Ephemeral'.
  
  
• Once the VMs are moved to new portgroup and connectivity is verified, the old port group can be removed.

Additional Information

Static (non-ephemeral) or ephemeral port binding on a vSphere Distributed Switch