Knowledge Base

Notes:

• Before you begin, refer to Restarting the Management agents on an ESX or ESXi Server (1003490) for important information on restarting the mgmt-vmware service.
• These solutions may require the use of the vmware-cmd command. For more information on the vmware-cmd command, see the VMware Scripting API documentation.

In vCenter Server, you may find that you have a virtual machine that has an orphan designation or has become invalid. An orphan virtual machine is one that exists in the vCenter Server database but is no longer present on the ESX host. A virtual machine also shows as orphaned if it exists on a different ESX host than the ESX host expected by vCenter Server.

A virtual machine can become orphaned in the below instances. For each instance, see the associated troubleshooting steps below:

• After a vMotion or VMware DRS Migration:
• After a VMware HA host failure occurs or after the ESX host comes out of maintenance mode:
• If you delete a virtual machine outside of vCenter Server.
• If vCenter Server is restarted while a migration is in progress, a virtual machine may show as orphaned.
  
• If you schedule too many virtual machines to be relocated at the same time.
• If the ESX/ESXi Host local disk in particular the root partition has become full, attempting to delete VMs may result in an orphaned VM.
  
  

• After a vMotion or VMware DRS Migration:
  
  
  1. Connect to the source and destination ESX/ESXi hosts using SSH. For more information, see Opening a command or shell prompt (1003892).
     
  2. Check with the vmware-cmd -l command if the orphaned virtual machine is registered on the same ESX host as reported by vCenter Server, likely the source machine. If the virtual machine is not registered on that host, use the vmware-cmd -l command to check if it is registered on the destination ESX host.
     
     Note: In ESXi, use the vim-cmd vmsvc/getallvms command instead of the vmware-cmd -l command.
     
     If the virtual machine is registered on the destination ESX/ESXi host:
     
     
     1. Run these commands to restart the vpxa and ESX host management services:
        
        
        • service mgmt-vmware restart. For more information, see Virtual machines unexpectedly reboot after issuing the "mgmt-vmware restart" command (7301769).
        • service vmware-vpxa restart.
          
          Note: In ESXi, use the /sbin/services.sh command to restart the management services on the host.
          
          
     2. Restart the vCenter Server Server Service. For more information, see Stopping, starting, or restarting vCenter services (1003895).
        
  Notes:
  • For the majority of problems related to orphaned virtual machines on ESX/ESXi, these steps resolve the issue.
  • Ensure that there is no time difference between the source and destination ESX/ESXi hosts.
    
    
  After completing these steps, if you see these errors when attempting to start your virtual machine:
  
  
  • A general system error occurred. The system returned on error. Communication with the virtual machine may have been interrupted.
  • VMControl error -11: No such virtual machine.
  
  Follow these steps to resolve the errors:
  
  
  1. Try to register the virtual machine through the vmware-cmd -s command.
     
     Note: If it does not fail with the error VMControl error -11: No such virtual machine, go to step 7.
     
     You can also try to register a virtual machine by right-clicking on its .vmx file in the datastore browser and choosing Register Guest. For more information, see Registering or adding a virtual machine to the inventory (1006160).
     
     
  2. Try to start the virtual machine from the command line using: vmware-cmd <cfg> start
     
     where <cfg> is the path to the configuration file as determined by vmware-cmd –l.
     
     Note: For more information about powering on a virtual machine on ESXi host using the command line, see Powering on an ESX/ESXi host's virtual machine (1003738).
     
     
  3. View the .vmx file of the virtual machine and verify that the file has valid configuration parameters. Ensure that the file does not contain non UTF-8 characters.
     
     Note: If possible, compare the .vmx file with the .vmx file of another virtual machine.
     
     
  4. Create a new virtual machine, with the virtual disks of the original virtual machine.
  5. Power on the new virtual machine.
     
     
• After a VMware HA host failure occurs or after the ESX host comes out of maintenance mode:
  
  
  1. Remove the ESX host from vCenter Server:
     
     
     1. Select the specified ESX/ESXi host in the vCenter Server inventory.
     2. Right-click on the ESX/ESXi host and choose Disconnect.
     3. Right-click and select the Remove option after the ESX/ESXi host has been disconnected.
        
        
  2. Remove the vCenter Server agent and VMware HA agents by running the below commands from the service console of the ESX host:
     
     export LGTO_AAM_VMWARE_REMOVAL=1
rpm -e LGTOaama
rpm -e LGTOaamvm
rpm -e VMware-vpxa

     
  3. Re-add the ESX/ESXi host to vCenter Server:
     
     
     1. Select the cluster, datacenter, or farm to which you want to add the ESX/ESXi host.
     2. Right-click the cluster, datacenter, or farm and choose Add.
     3. Enter the ESX/ESXi host's IP address. You must have a username and password with sufficient permissions to add the host.
     4. Complete the steps in the Add Host wizard.
        
        
  If you see this error when trying to start the virtual machines:
  
  Could not power VM, no swap file, failed to power on VM when trying to start them
  
  Follow these steps:
  
  
  1. Run the ps -auxwww | grep -i [vmname] command on each ESX host until you find the server host that is running the virtual machine's process and locking its files.
  2. Run the service vmware-vpxa restart command on that ESX host
  3. Restart the VMware VirtualCenter Server service.
     
     
  If the issue persists even after performing these steps, follow these steps:
  
  
  1. Power off the virtual machine.
  2. Access the ESX/ESXi service console using an SSH client.
  3. Open the virtual machine configuration file (.vmx) in a text editor.
     
     Note: The default location is /vmfs/volumes/<datastore_name>/<vm_name>/<vm_name>.vmx


  4. Remove the location of the swap file referenced in the configuration file. It should look similar to tis:
     
     sched.swap.derivedName = ""
     
     
  5. Save the file.
  6. Rename or delete the existing swap file from the virtual machine directory.
  7. Unregister the virtual machine and register it back for the changes to take effect. For more information, see Registering or adding a virtual machine to the inventory (1006160).
  8. Power on the virtual machine.
     
     
• If you delete a virtual machine outside of vCenter Server.
  
  A user can delete a virtual machine through the VMware Management Interface while vCenter Server is down, through the vSphere Client directly connected to an ESX/ESXi host, or by deleting the virtual machine's configuration file through the service console.
  
  Note: If the configuration file was deleted and the virtual disk remains, you can recreate the virtual machine using the VMware Management Interface or the vSphere Client and choosing to attach the existing virtual disk to a newly created .vmx file.
  
  
• If vCenter Server is restarted while a migration is in progress, a virtual machine may show as orphaned.
  
  This is a temporary situation. During start-up, vCenter Server reconnects to all hosts. If a migration completed while vCenter Server was down, a virtual machine can be reported as an orphan until vCenter Server establishes a connection to the target host for the virtual machine.
  
  
• If you schedule too many virtual machines to be relocated at the same time.
  
  An ODBC timeout can cause errors in the database. To resolve an ODBC timeout, delete the orphans after ensuring the original virtual machines can power on. Click Delete VM on the vCenter Server console to delete the virtual machine and its orphan from the vCenter Server database.
  
  
• If the ESX/ESXi Host local disk in particular the root partition has become full, attempting to delete VMs may result in an orphaned VM.
  
  This orphaned VM needs to be removed by right clicking the VM in the Inventory. For more information on correcting the host, see Investigating disk space on an ESX or ESXi host (1003564).