vCenter "Error loading data" when attempting to Edit VM Settings

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

In vCenter environments utilizing vCenter Servers in Enhanced Linked Mode (ELM), administrators may experience intermittent failures when trying to access the Edit Settings menu on Virtual Machines (VMs), resulting in an "Error loading data" pop-up in the vSphere Client. This issue is predominantly observed on highly utilized workload domains containing a high density of hosts and clusters.

 

When troubleshooting via the vSAN Ruby vSphere Console (RVC), executing commands like vsan.cluster_info <clustername> or vsan.check_limits <clustername> against an affected cluster will hang or fail with the following errors:

• Timeout::Error: execution expired
• A general system error occurred: MemoryError()

Environment

• VMware vCenter Server 8.x and 9.x
• VMware vSAN

Cause

The host vSAN management service (vsanmgmtd) experiences a memory exhaustion condition due to heavy performance monitoring queries. A domino effect prevents vCenter from processing UI requests, causing the vSphere Client to time out after 120 seconds when loading the VM storage page properties.

Resolution

To restore vCenter UI responsiveness when the issue occurs, use the following workaround:

1. Identify the affected host: Execute the RVC command vsan.cluster_info <clustername> to find the specific ESXi host that times out or returns a MemoryError().
2. Reboot the host: Place the affected ESXi host into Maintenance Mode (Ensure Accessibility) and perform a reboot. The reboot temporarily clears the exhausted memory state of the vSAN management agent and restores standard UI performance.

Additional Information

Please contact Broadcom support for further investigation and assistance.