Configuration Issues: "Unable to apply DRS... available Memory ressources in the parent ressource pools..."

[Ejstrup]

We are having difficulties identifying what the problem is here:

We have plenty of available memory:

We have tried to restart Management Agents, Management Network and finally tried to remove each host from the cluster and readding them.

Last we tried to remove DRS to reapply it, but unfortunately we have an active vApp that requires extra work to remove, so we would like to find a method which does not taking down this vApp.

Anyone? 🙂

Thanks in advance...

Carsten Ejstrup

[IBM_India]

If the problem persists after restarting the management agents:

1. Put the host into maintenance mode.
   
   Note: If DRS does not migrate the virtual machines to other hosts, migrate them manually.
   
   
2. Verify that EVC is enabled on the cluster.
3. If EVC is enabled, navigate to the Edit Settings of the cluster.
4. Click VMware EVC and confirm that it is currently enabled and has the proper setting for the cluster.
5. Ensure there are no virtual machines running on the host.
6. Remove the ESXi/ESX host by dragging it out of the cluster.
7. Re-add the ESXi/ESX host by dragging it into the cluster.
8. Exit from maintenance mode.

To work around this issue, run the rm /etc/vmware/hostd/pools.xml command on the ESXi/ESX host, then restart the management agents (hostd and vpxa) on the ESXi/ESX host.

If the issue persists, remove the host from the cluster and then re-add it to the cluster.

[Ejstrup]

Thanks for Your response!

All has been tried before... tried it anyway, since Your order was a little different, but still no luck...

ESX01 is still having the issue.

Any ideas? 🙂

[IBM_India]

put the host in maintenance mode and,  restart the management services. Once the ESX host reconnected, the error and the red exclamation disappeared.

[Ejstrup]

Thanks again 🙂
Still no luck... The exclamation disappeared for 10 minutes. Now it's back 😕

It looks like the issue is now only showing up on ESX01 (the first of our five hosts). Last week it was on every host on/off.

Maybe there is something else we should be looking at and not just persue the idea, that the Management Agents are the bad guys here?

I have seen the solutions You have provided before. Including af text describing that DRS should function normally and we should not worry about it. But I hate exclamations! 😉

UPDATE:

After having executed a "Run DRS" and at the same time set DRS to Aggressive mode - the hosts ESX01, ESX04 and ESX05 is now showing the exclamation... I will be bald by next weekend 😉

[a_p_]

Only a guess. Did someone specify reservations on VMs?

To get an easy overview you may run RVTools, and check the VM's reservation columns.

André

[Ejstrup]

Thank You André,

I thought of that myself a couple of days ago. Checked it out.. and there was a small amount of reserved vCPU.

Stil... it really shouldn't be enough to produce this issue.. agree? 🙂

Our cluster consists of 5 identical hosts like this, which should be no problem with the small amount of reservation in mind?

[a_p_]

Stil... it really shouldn't be enough to produce this issue.. agree? 🙂

Well, it really depends on the overall reservations for all of your VM's (memory and/or vCPU). If the issue occurred just recently it may be worth a try to remove the reservation from a couple of VMs to see whether this allows DRS to configure sucessfully!?

André

[vAMenezes]

Do you have resource pools setup that could have limits setup?

[Ejstrup]

Thank You for Your input, it is appreciated! 🙂

We do not have any ressource pools setup at all...

But today - using the web client - we found a new error-message which could cast some light over the matter. We haven't been able to find anything regarding this error. We have NO reservations on any VM's, Ressource Pools, so we are looking forward to Your input 😉

First error-message:

Event Details:

Type: error Description: Unable to apply DRS resource settings on host esx01.frederikshavn.local in Frederikshavn. The available Memory resources in the parent resource pool are insufficient for the operation.. This can significantly reduce the effectiveness of DRS. Time: 26-08-2015 08:46:46

Error Stack:

Group vm.95354: Requested memory minLimit 92160 KB insufficient to support effective reservation 8470216 KB

Additional Event Details:

Type ID: Error VC Build: 2559268 Target Object Type: ClusterComputeResource DataCenter Object Type: Datacenter Host Object Type: HostSystem Host Build: 2809209 ChainId: 16290584

Second error-message

[vAMenezes]

Can you remove the host from the cluster, restart the management services and re-add to the cluster? Or have you already tried this?

[Ejstrup]

Hi again,

Already tried that... it has little effect.

I hoped that the above mentioned log-entries could share some light on whats wrong...

[a_p_]

Please don't mind me asking this again. You said "We have NO reservations on any VM's". However, in a previous post you presented a screenshot with vCPU reservations!? Did you remove them? Can you also confirm that none of the VMs has a memory reservation (that's what the error message is complaining about)?

André

[Ejstrup]

Hi André,

Thank You for commenting again and I can assure You I don't mind You asking again 😉

You're right... I did post a screenshot, where there where a couple for VM's with reservation. These reservations have all been removed. They where implemented per default by the Cisco ISE templates. They where not needed, so I removed them.

As of today we do not have ANY reservations on neither vCPU or vRAM and that is why we are a little confused regarding the log-entry saying:

"Group vm.95354: Requested memory minLimit 92160 KB insufficient to support effective reservation 8470216 KB"

Where can we change this setting? I haven't set it in the 3 years I have been in charge om VMware in our company.

I have searched and searched... but cannot find anything on "Group vm."

[virtualkingraj]

check

Expandable reservation checkbox while configuring resource pool?

[a_p_]

Unless I'm mistaken the "Group vm" equals the parent/root resource pool!?

What may help give us a clue is to take a look at the output of esxcfg-resgrp -l. The command is quite verbose, so it's advisable to redirect the output to a file and search the file for 95354.

André

[tungdn]

this is related to Slot size calculating

try to edit Admission Control Policy: choosing Percentage of cluster resources  instead of Host failures

hope this help

regards,

Tung Duong

[elihuj]

I know this is an old topic, but I came across it today while troubleshooting the same error and figured I'd post my solution. After changing some settings on a resource pool (which included setting a memory reservation on a VM within that pool), I noticed the "Unable to apply DRS..." message on one of my hosts. I removed the memory reservation and power cycled the VM, but the message persisted. Restarting the management agents, and other troubleshooting methods described in this post did not work. I decided to check out the .vmx file for the VM, and wouldn't you know the memory reservation was still present. I removed it, and powered up the VM and verified no more error messages in my hostd.log file. Why the reservation parameter stuck around in the .vmx file after I removed it, I have no idea.

[Eva_Rowe]

Hi Carsten,

I had the exact same issue that you have, so I thought I would share my experience.  I have seen what you have tried below but again I wanted to share what happened here.

Yesterday I had the same errors you have and connected to my host via Putty.

I then ran

>

/etc/init.d/hostd restart

  /etc/init.d/vpxa restart

Nothing happened.

Then today I thought I'd just run it again and see.  Strangely enough when I ran these commands again, it has resolved the errors.  ??  Can't explain why but I hope this might work for you too.

Kind Regards

Eva

[dwagner_xpert_t]

Just a FYI this ended up a VM that had VMware tools still mounted to the CDrom. Ending the install and removing the ISO resolved the error.

Information Sharing: How to fix Configuration issue: Unable to apply DRS resource settings on host