Performing vMotion fails with error “The vmotion failed because the destination host did not receive data from the source host on the vMotion network.”

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

This article provides steps to troubleshoot the issue of vMotion connectivity.

Symptoms:

• You are attempting a vMotion migration between two ESX/ESXi hosts, and the vMotion task reaches 14% “Or any value below 21%”, then times out with this error message:

The vMotion migrations failed because the ESX hosts were not able to connect over the vMotion network. Check the vMotion network settings and physical network configuration.
OR
“The vmotion failed because the destination host did not receive data from the source host on the vmotion network.
please check your vmotion network settings and physical network configuration and ensure they are correct.”

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0.x
VMware ESXi 6.7.x

Cause

The network configuration (either virtual or physical) present is invalid.
Network misconfiguration can cause random vMotion failures. Retrying the vMotion operation may be successful.

Resolution

To resolve this issue:

1. Check for IP address conflicts on the vMotion network.
   
   Note: Each host in the cluster should have a vMotion vmkernel, assigned a unique IP address.
    
2. Check for packet loss over the vMotion network. Try having the source host ping (vmkping) the destination host's vMotion vmknic IP address for the duration of the vMotion.
   
   For example:
   
   vmkping -I vmk# <IP of destination host vMotion vmk>
   
   Where vmk# is the vmkernel number of the vMotion vmkernel on the source host.
   
   For more information, see Testing VMkernel network connectivity with the vmkping command.
    
3. Check the driver/firmware of the physical adapter used for vMotion.
   
   Note: If the driver or firmware is not up to date, the vMotions can fail with a "timeout" or "waiting for data" error. For more information, see Determining Network/Storage firmware and driver version in ESXi.
    
4. Ensure the ESXi firewall ruleset for vMotion is enabled and that there are no other conflicting rules blocking the traffic. 

5. Check for potential interaction with firewall hardware or software that prevents connectivity between the source and the destination TCP port 8000.

Additional Information

Multiple-NIC vMotion in vSphere

For more information on vMotions and troubleshooting vMotion issues, see Understanding and troubleshooting vMotion.

Other examples:

• Migration [184329483:<mig_id>] failed to connect to remote host <###.###.###.###>: Timeout.
  
  This error indicates that remote host did not accept the connection within the allowed time limit.
   
• Migration [-1408237366:<mig_id>] failed to connect to remote host <###.###.###.###>: Connection refused.
  
  This error indicates that the remote host is explicitly not listening on the vMotion port.  The vMotion port is 8000, see also Port requirements for VMware vSphere ESXi

Additional Articles

• Troubleshooting vMotion network connectivity issues