vMotion fails at 21% with error 195887371

How to troubleshoot vMotion issues

Troubleshooting vMotion issues is in most cases a matter of networking issues. I will demonstrate in this case how to trace down the problem and how to find possible culprits.

What’s the problem?

Initiating a host vMotion between esx1 and esx2 passes all pre-checks, but then fails at 21% progress.

Migrate virtual machine:Failed waiting for data. Error 195887371. The ESX hosts failed to connect over the VMotion network.

See the error stack for details on the cause of this problem.
Time: 07.01.2018 19:08:08
Target: WSUS
vCenter Server: vc
Error Stack
Migration [167797862:1515348488969364] failed to connect to remote host <192.168.45.246> from host <10.0.100.102>: Timeout.
vMotion migration [167797862:1515348488969364] vMotion migration [167797862:1515348488969364] stream thread failed to connect to the remote host <192.168.45.246>: The ESX hosts failed to connect over the VMotion network
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. 
Migration [167797862:1515348488969364] failed to connect to remote host <10.0.100.102> from host <192.168.45.246>: Timeout.
vMotion migration [167797862:1515348488969364] failed to create a connection with remote host <10.0.100.102>: The ESX hosts failed to connect over the VMotion network
Failed waiting for data. Error 195887371. The ESX hosts failed to connect over the VMotion network.

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create kernel panic on ESXi

There are situations when you need to check cluster reactions after a ESX host crash. For example to see if HA will start VM on other hosts.

The easiest method is to pull a hosts powercord. But there ar more elegant ways to let a host crash.

Warning! Do not use on productive systems! This is for testing purposes under controlled conditions only. Use at your own risk.

PSOD

You can trigger a Purple-Screen-of-Death (PSOD) by issuing a special command that causes a kernel panic.  Use the VMkernel Sys Info Shell (vsish).

First you need a SSH connection to your host. Change to vsish

vsish
set /reliability/crashMe/Panic

Alternatively you can issue the command together with parameters.

vsish -e set /reliability/crashMe/Panic 1

Your host will end up in a PSOD and can be restarted afterwards.

 

vSphere Web Client vs. vSphere Client

Ein Argument, das viele Kunden vom Upgrade auf vSphere 6.5 abhält, ist der Verlust des vSphere-Clients (C# Client). Der auf Adobe Flash basierende Web-Client wurde nie richtig angenommen. Auch wenn einige Funktionen nur im Web-Client verfügbar sind, erledigen vSphere-Admins 95% ihrer Tätigkeiten im klassischen C#-Client. (Ich muss gestehen, ich gehöre auch dazu).

Dabei wird oft das beste Argument zum Upgrade übersehen: Der HTML5 vSphere-Client. Ursprünglich als Fling gestartet, ist er nun auch fest in vSphere 6.5 integriert. Er benötigt kein Flash mehr und überzeugt auch optisch durch die klaren Linien der Project-Clarity UI.

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Runecast Analyzer – Getting started Guide part 2

Part 2 – How to update your Runecast Appliance

In the first section of this article-series I’ve shown how to deploy and setup Runecast Analyzer. Thank you all for the positive responses. In this section I’ll show how to update the appliance.

Once an update is available, Runecast Analyzer will show a notification in the upper right corner. An exclamation mark will appear beneath the link symbol.

This only works if you decide to grant Runecast Analyzer access to the internet. If you prefer to lockdown the appliance from external communication, it is possible to update with offline packages. I will first describe online updates (with internet connection enabled) and then offline updates. Continue reading “Runecast Analyzer – Getting started Guide part 2”