Cannot connect to host when cloning or cold vmotioning a virtual machine using the Provisioning Network Stack.

Products

VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Attempting to clone a virtual machine or perform a cold migration, the operation instantly fails in the vSphere Client. with a GUI error starting:
Task name: Clone virtual machine
Target: <VM Name>
Status: Cannot connect to host.
Dedicated Provisioning TCP/IP stack on a provisioning VMK (as per How to Place Traffic for Cold Migration, Cloning, and Snapshots on the Provisioning TCP/IP Stack)
Its gateway was configured using the "Override default gateway for this adapter" check box and no default gateway was set on the netstack itself.
Reviewing the hostd.log on the source host shows No route to host errors for the provisioning stack, despite the GUI showing the override gateway as set:

2026-05-08T10:26:01.110Z In(166) Hostd[2101453]: [Originator@6876 sub=NfcManager opID=mmne3b1l-575685-auto-cc7a-h5:70113968-7d-01-639e sid=520495d6 user=vpxuser:<USER>] Copy operation invoked
2026-05-08T10:26:01.215Z In(166) Hostd[2101453]: [Originator@6876 sub=NfcManager opID=mmne3b1l-575685-auto-cc7a-h5:70113968-7d-01-639e sid=520495d6 user=vpxuser:<USER>] OPId extracted mmne3b1l-575685-auto-cc7a-h5:70113968-7d-01-639e
2026-05-08T10:26:01.264Z In(166) Hostd[2101453]: [Originator@6876 sub=Libs opID=mmne3b1l-575685-auto-cc7a-h5:70113968-7d-01-639e sid=520495d6 user=vpxuser:<USER>] Switching netstack to vSphereProvisioning
2026-05-08T10:26:01.264Z In(166) Hostd[2101453]: [Originator@6876 sub=Libs opID=mmne3b1l-575685-auto-cc7a-h5:70113968-7d-01-639e sid=520495d6 user=vpxuser:<USER>] CnxOpenTCPSocket: Cannot connect to server <Destination ESXI VMK IP>:902: No route to host <<<showing no route to host on the provisioning stack but default gateway override is set.
2026-05-08T10:26:01.264Z In(166) Hostd[2101453]: [Originator@6876 sub=Libs opID=mmne3b1l-575685-auto-cc7a-h5:70113968-7d-01-639e sid=520495d6 user=vpxuser:<USER>] CnxAuthdConnect: Returning false because CnxAuthdConnectTCP failed
2026-05-08T10:26:01.264Z In(166) Hostd[2101453]: [Originator@6876 sub=Libs opID=mmne3b1l-575685-auto-cc7a-h5:70113968-7d-01-639e sid=520495d6 user=vpxuser:<USER>] CnxConnectAuthd: Returning false because CnxAuthdConnect failed
2026-05-08T10:26:01.264Z In(166) Hostd[2101453]: [Originator@6876 sub=Libs opID=mmne3b1l-575685-auto-cc7a-h5:70113968-7d-01-639e sid=520495d6 user=vpxuser:<USER>] Cnx_Connect: Returning false because CnxConnectAuthd failed
2026-05-08T10:26:01.264Z In(166) Hostd[2101453]: [Originator@6876 sub=Libs opID=mmne3b1l-575685-auto-cc7a-h5:70113968-7d-01-639e sid=520495d6 user=vpxuser:<USER>] Cnx_Connect: Error message: Failed to connect to server <Destination ESXI VMK IP>:902
2026-05-08T10:26:01.264Z In(166) Hostd[2101453]: [Originator@6876 sub=Libs opID=mmne3b1l-575685-auto-cc7a-h5:70113968-7d-01-639e sid=520495d6 user=vpxuser:<USER>] [NFC ERROR]NfcNewAuthdConnectionEx: Failed to connect: Failed to connect to server <Destination ESXI VMK IP>:902
2026-05-08T10:26:01.264Z In(166) Hostd[2101453]: [Originator@6876 sub=Libs opID=mmne3b1l-575685-auto-cc7a-h5:70113968-7d-01-639e sid=520495d6 user=vpxuser:<USER>] [NFC ERROR]NfcNewAuthdConnectionEx: Failed to connect to peer. Error: Failed to connect to server <Destination ESXI VMK IP>:902
2026-05-08T10:26:01.264Z In(166) Hostd[2101453]: [Originator@6876 sub=Libs opID=mmne3b1l-575685-auto-cc7a-h5:70113968-7d-01-639e sid=520495d6 user=vpxuser:<USER>] [NFC ERROR]NfcEstablishAuthCnxToServer: Failed to create new AuthD connection: Failed to connect to server <Destination ESXI VMK IP>:902
2026-05-08T10:26:01.264Z In(166) Hostd[2101453]: [Originator@6876 sub=Libs opID=mmne3b1l-575685-auto-cc7a-h5:70113968-7d-01-639e sid=520495d6 user=vpxuser:<USER>] [NFC ERROR]Nfc_BindAndEstablishAuthdCnx3: Failed to create a connection with server <Destination ESXI VMK IP>: Failed to connect to server <Destination ESXI VMK IP>:902
2026-05-08T10:26:01.264Z Er(163) Hostd[2101453]: [Originator@6876 sub=NfcManager opID=mmne3b1l-575685-auto-cc7a-h5:70113968-7d-01-639e sid=520495d6 user=vpxuser:<USER>] Unable to connect to NFC server: Failed to connect to server <Destination ESXI VMK IP>:902

Checking the route for the provisioning netstack via CLI confirms no default route configured for provisioning netstack.

[root@<ESXI>:~] esxcli network ip route ipv4 list -N vSphereProvisioning
Network Netmask Gateway Interface Source
---------- ------------- ------- --------- ------
<Local subnet of VMK> 255.255.255.0 0.0.0.0 vmk2

Environment

VMware vSphere

Cause

The "Override default gateway for this adapter" function is intended only for VMkernel adapters using the default TCP/IP stack (to prevent them from routing via the management VMK). For dedicated stacks like the Provisioning TCP/IP stack, this override setting has no effect, resulting in a "no route to host" condition. The selected netstack must have its default gateway explicitly configured on the host level, rather than the adapter level.

Resolution

To properly route traffic for the Provisioning TCP/IP stack, you must set the gateway directly on the provisioning netstack configuration.

Option 1: Configure via the vSphere GUI

In the vSphere Client, navigate to the ESXi host.
Go to Configure > Networking > TCP/IP Config.
Select the Provisioning stack and click Edit.
Enter your gateway IP address in the Gateway field and save your changes.

Option 2: Configure via the ESXi CLI

Open an SSH session to the affected ESXi host.
Manually add the default route to the vSphereProvisioning netstack by running the following command:
```
esxcli network ip route ipv4 add -n default -g <Gateway_IP> -N vSphereProvisioning
```

Verify the route was successfully added:

[root@<ESXI>:~] esxcli network ip route ipv4 list -N vSphereProvisioning
Network     Netmask         Gateway       Interface  Source
----------  -------------   ------------  ---------  ------
default     0.0.0.0         192.168.0.1  vmk2       MANUAL
192.168.0.0  255.255.255.0   0.0.0.0       vmk2       MANUAL