Performing a vMotion or adding a network card to a virtual machine fails with the error: Necessary module isn't loaded

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• Cannot migrate a virtual machine.
• vMotion fails.
• Cannot add a network card to the virtual machine.
• Adding a network card to the virtual machine fails.
• vCenter Server reports the error:

Failed to initialize migration at source. Error 195887200. Necessary module isn't loaded. Failed to start migration: Necessary module isn't loaded.

• Running the esxcli system module list | grep migrate command shows migrate false false, indicating that the module is not loaded.
• Running the esxcli system module list | grep migrate command returns nothing.
• In the hostd.log file, you see entries similar to:
  
  -01-25T13:15:56.122Z [2A5C2B90 info 'VMotionSrc (1327497349112737)'] ResolveCb: VMX reports needsUnregister = false for migrateType MIGRATE_TYPE_VMOTION
  -01-25T13:15:56.122Z [2A5C2B90 info 'VMotionSrc (1327497349112737)'] ResolveCb: Failed with fault: (vmodl.fault.SystemError) {
  dynamicType = <unset>,
  faultCause = (vmodl.MethodFault) null,
  faultMessage = (vmodl.LocalizableMessage) [
  (vmodl.LocalizableMessage) {
  dynamicType = <unset>,
  key = "msg.checkpoint.init.migration.failure",
  arg = (vmodl.KeyAnyValue) [
  (vmodl.KeyAnyValue) {
  dynamicType = <unset>,
  key = "1",
  value = "195887200",
  },
  (vmodl.KeyAnyValue) {
  dynamicType = <unset>,
  key = "2",
  value = "Necessary module isn't loaded",
  }
  ],
  message = "Failed to initialize migration at source. Error 0xbad0060. Necessary module isn't loaded.",
  }
  ],
  reason = "Failed to initialize migration at source. Error 0xbad0060. Necessary module isn't loaded.
  ",
  msg = ""
  }
  

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 5.0

Resolution

This is a known issue affecting VMware ESXi 5.0.x.

This issue is resolved in a patch release for ESXi 5.0, available at VMware Downloads. For more information, see VMware ESXi 5.0, Patch Release ESXi500-201308001 (2053131).

To work around this issue, reset the Migrate.Enabled setting.

To reset the Migrate.Enabled setting:

1. Connect to vCenter Server through the vSphere Client.
2. Select the ESXi host and Click the Configuration tab.
3. Click Software > Advanced Settings.
4. Set Migrate.Enabled to 0.
5. Click OK to apply the setting.
6. Click Software > Advanced Settings.
7. Set Migrate.Enabled to 1.

Note: If you encounter an "invalid parameter" error while setting Migrate.Enabled to 1, run the following command to load the module in the ESXi command line:

esxcli system module load -m migrate

1. Click OK to apply the setting.
2. Repeat this process on both the source and destination ESXi hosts.

Additional Information

vMotion fails at 10% with the error: A general system error occurred: Migration failed while copying data, Broken Pipe
VMware ESXi 5.0, Patch Release ESXi500-201308001