Pre-checks of Esxi failed during an EMM dry run validation due to a VM fault with Remediation "The total number of virtual CPUs present or requested in the virtual machines' configuration has exceeded the limit on the host"

Products

• VCF Operations

Issue/Introduction

VCF-OPS ESXi host update pre-check fails with the following "enter maintenance mode" error message:

• Upgrade preCheck is failing with error "<host-FQDN> Checks for VM faults while performing EMM dry run for host <host-FQDN> ERROR A VM faults were found while performing a dry run enter in maintenance mode validation High: Do not perform upgrade without addressing this issue."
• Remediation : The total number of virtual CPUs present or requested in the virtual machines' configuration has exceeded the limit on the host

 

Environment

• VCF 9.x

Cause

This failure occurs because strict CPU Overcommitment Enforcement is enabled under the cluster's vSphere DRS settings. When the EMM dry run simulates evacuating a host, it attempts to shift all running VMs onto the remaining active hosts. This consolidation pushes the calculated $vCPU:pCPU$ ratio past the configured hard limit on the target hosts, causing DRS to flag a VM fault and block the pre-check.

Resolution

• Temporarily disable or relax the CPU overcommitment ratio under Cluster > Configure > DRS > Edit > Additional Options during the maintenance window.