Exclamation sign meaning - Vmware Esxi

[Chirag01]

Hi,

I have two nodes running on Vmware ESXi, out of these, one node having a red Exclamation sign on power on/off and restart tabs.

I have just restarted the nodes and red Exclamation signs have appeared after that.

What is the meaning of the red exclamation signs, exactly? can anyone have any idea? I have checked on VMware documentation but haven't found it.

I have attached a screenshot for the reference.

Many thanks in advance.

Regards,

Chirag

[rajen450m]

Hi,

Can you please check the summary tab of this VM to find any warnings related to it.

Like HA disabled or not set or any other warnings.

Try to re-configure, HA & DRS on the cluster and see, if the exclamation disappears.

There is a thread similar to your question with marked answer, check this if it helps you.

Cluster shows red exclamation but no alarms on hosts or VM's

Regards,

[rajen450m · Accepted solution]

Hi,

I have figured out, what it means. If there is no warning in summary tab.,

The exclamation it is showing is that, it comes with a warning.

When you that option with exclamation, it will display a warning before going on the option, thats it.

Regards,

[rajen450m]

Something like this warning:

Regards,

[dbalcaraz]

I don't remember right now but in vSphere 6.5 this warning doesn't appear.

I thought that maybe it was because it's an appliance but I accessed to an ESXi and to a VM appliance and it shows normal icons.

Maybe is related with previous versions?

[IRIX201110141]

Well,

if the VMware tools are installed and up and running and you press the shutdown or restart button it triggers a smooth GuestOS shutdown/reboot.  If not.... its a hard power off/reset.

The text in the info box is slightly different than and iam pretty sure thats what the explanation mark will tell you. You have one button which acts a little different based on the status of the VMware Tools.

Regards,

Joerg

[Chirag01]

Thanks, everyone for the reply. Appreciated!

I have the second node that runs on same ESXi and it has "shut down" tab and interesting that there is no red exclamation sign.

So I can say, Power off acts as a remove the power cable whereas shutting down runs the shutdown script within the os and then power off the system, is that right?

If it is right then valid reason for VMware to display the sign as a warning and let the user know that there may cause data loss issue.

Thank you.

Regards,

Chirag

[rajen450m]

Yes Chirag,

That is how VMware letting users to know the impact with a warning. That's it.

Regards,

[dbalcaraz]

Just one thing to know.

Which version of ESXi are you using?

Are you using vCenter or ESXi console to access the VMs?

[Chirag01]

ESXi version: 6.5.0 Update 1

Using ESXi console to access the VMs.

Thanks for your time.

Regards,

Chirag

[Chirag01]

Many thanks, Rajen450m! Greatly appreciated your time.

If there is something to do with the data losses then why another node which I have running on the same ESXi don't have any red exclamation.

Also, it has shut down tab instead of power off.

I am guessing there is something to do with power off and shut down tabs and if it's true then why VMware displays power off on one node and shut down for another node. Is something automatically happens by VMware OR we set up at the time of node deployment on ESXi?

Hope you understand my question!! Sorry for the confusion.

Regards,

Chirag

[dbalcaraz]

Mm.. About the exclamation sign, I personally checked on some production environments and all are ESXi 6.5.
I didn't found any exclamation sign on a VM, Appliance nor VM without VMware Tools.

[Chirag01]

Thanks, dbalcaraz!