vSAN Storage Policy Assignment Failure with error "Storage policy change failure: 22 (Invalid argument)".

Products

• VMware vSAN

Issue/Introduction

When attempting to apply a RAID 5 (Erasure Coding) storage policy to a Virtual Machine or disk in a vSAN cluster, the operation fails with the following error:

•  "Storage policy change failure: 22 (Invalid argument)."

• The task "Reconfigure VM" fails at the storage policy transition stage.

Environment

• VMware vSAN

Cause

• This error occurs when the applied vSAN license tier does not support Erasure Coding (RAID 5/6).
• RAID 5/6 requires a VMware vSphere Foundation license or suitable vSAN add-on.

Resolution

Verification Steps:

Via the GUI

1. In the vSphere Client, navigate to Administration > Licensing > Licenses and review the licenses associated with vSAN.

Via the CLI

1. Log in to the ESXi host via SSH
2. Examine the vSAN licensed features configuration: grep -i LicensedFeatures /etc/vmware/esx.conf
3. Result: If the output is /adv/VSAN/LicensedFeatures = "vit,allflash", the erasure_coding feature is missing, confirming the feature is not available for you.

 

Corrective Action:

1. Acquire a suitable license which includes the RAID5/6 Erasure Coding

2. In the vSphere Client, navigate to Administration > Licensing > Licenses to add the new key.

3. Assign the license to the cluster: Cluster > Configure > Licensing > Change License.

4. Retry the storage policy assignment.

Additional Information

Information with relation to product tiers and features per license -

https://www.vmware.com/docs/vmw-datasheet-vsphere-product-line-comparison