"Unable to apply DRS resource settings on host" alert triggered by inaccessible virtual machines

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms

• The following alert is displayed on the Summary tab of the host in the vSphere Client: Unable to apply DRS resource settings on host. . This can significantly reduce the effectiveness of DRS.
• Virtual machines displayed as 'inaccessible' are registered on the host.
• Restarting the hostd and vpxa services, as suggested in the article "Unable to apply DRS resource settings on host" error in vCenter Server, does not resolve the alert.
• In the vpxd.log on the vCenter Server, entries similar to the following are recorded:
  

  YYYY-MM-DDTHH:mm:SS.SSSZ warning vpxd[4###7] [Originator@6876 sub=MoResGroup opID=HB-host-###@###-####] Receive ConfigIssue when processing RP updates from host [vim.HostSystem:host-1###,ESXI_HOST_NAME] type vmodl.fault.SystemError on ManagedObject vim.ResourcePool:pool## for method vim.ManagedEntity.destroy

  or

  YYYY-MM-DDTHH:mm:SS.SSSZ warning vpxd[4###7] [Originator@6876 sub=MoResGroup opID=HB-host-###@###-####] Receive ConfigIssue when processing RP updates from host [vim.HostSystem:host-1###,ESXI_HOST_NAME] type vmodl.fault.SystemError on ManagedObject vim.ResourcePool:pool## for method vim.ManagedEntity.updateConfig

  

Environment

VMware vCenter Server

Cause

When 'inaccessible' virtual machines are present, vCenter Server may be unable to push the appropriate resource settings to the host, triggering the "Unable to apply DRS resource settings" alert.

Resolution

To resolve this issue, clear the 'inaccessible' status of the virtual machine. The simplest way is to unregister the inaccessible virtual machine from the inventory:

1. Right-click the virtual machine displayed as 'inaccessible' in the inventory.
2. Select Remove from Inventory.

Note: Virtual machines can become 'inaccessible' for a variety of reasons. If you wish to resolve the 'inaccessible' status without removing the VM from the inventory, please refer to Virtual machines appear as invalid or orphaned or inaccessible.

Additional Information

Unable to apply DRS resource settings on host, after upgrading ESXi