VM placement failure with NO_FEASIBLE_PLACEMENT_SOLUTION due to Elasticity configuration in VMware Cloud Director

Products

• VMware Cloud Director

Issue/Introduction

• The issue occurs after adding a second resource pool or cluster to a Provider Virtual Datacenter (PVDC).
• The following error may appears in the UI or logs during Virtual Machine (VM) instantiation: PlacementException NO_FEASIBLE_PLACEMENT_SOLUTION.
• Error logs may specify: Contains only rejected virtual machine groups: [[####] when selecting a Placement Policy that is not compatible with the PVDC's primary Resource Pool.
• Error logs may specify: No valid storage containers found when selecting a Storage Policy that is not compatible with the PVDC's primary Resource Pool.
• The placement engine consistently selects the primary resource pool/cluster, even if other resources are available.
• The issue occurs for Flex Allocation model Organization VDCs (Org VDCs). 

Environment

VMware Cloud Director 10.x

Cause

This issue occurs because the Org VDC is not configured with Elasticity enabled. When Elasticity is disabled, VMware Cloud Director restricts the placement engine to the Organization's primary resource pool. Consequently, the placement engine cannot automatically decouple the tenant's virtual data center from physical cluster boundaries or create the necessary Organization Resource Pool on secondary clusters.

Resolution

Enable Elasticity on the affected Organization VDC to allow the workload placement engine to span multiple clusters and resource pools.

1. Log in to the VMware Cloud Director Provider Portal.
2. Navigate to Cloud Resources > Organization VDCs.
3. Select the affected Organization VDC.
4. Navigate to the Allocation tab.
5. Click Edit.
6. Toggle the switch for Elasticity to Enabled.
7. Click Save.

After enabling Elasticity, VMware Cloud Director will automatically create the necessary Organization Resource Pools on the secondary resource pools, allowing VM placement to succeed.

Additional Information

If the issue persists after enabling elasticity:

• Perform a reconnect on the vCenter Server instance in the Provider Portal (Resources > Infrastructure Resources > vCenter Server Instances).
• Review logs in /opt/vmware/vcloud-director/logs/vcloud-container-debug.log for any remaining PlacementException errors.