Issue with vSphere ESXi 6.5 VM Autostart feature

[eroztech]

Hi,

I am using ESXi 6.5 (ESXi build number: 5310538). 3 Months back I enabled Autostart and put 5 VMs in Autostart mode with default 120 sec start delay. Everything was working perfectly.

Last week, I disabled Autostart on 4 VMs and kept 1 VM as it is. Now in Autostart order column, 4 out of 5 VMs are showing Unset.

But even after disabling Autostart, when I reboot the ESXi host, all 5 VMs are getting Autostarted, which is not expected. It shows Autostart feature is not working well.

Could some please, help me to understand where the exact problem is?

Thanks!!

Regd.

Shahzad Khan

http://vMantra.in

[peetz · Accepted solution]

Hi Shahzad,

I assume you are using the builtin Host Client to modify Autostart settings. Maybe you are using an outdated version of the Host Client that has bugs/issues with VM Autostart configuration.

Make sure that you are running the latest version (1.29 as of now, see ESXi Embedded Host Client).

You can also check and configure VM Autostart settings on the ESXi command line using the

  vim-cmd hostsvc/autostartmanager/

commands, e.g.

  vim-cmd hostsvc/autostartmanager/get_autostartseq

to display the current sequence.

- Andreas

[eroztech]

Hi Andreas,

Thanks for the information!

As per your suggestion, I updated my host client to the latest version 1.29.0 (Client Build Number: 8122819). But still no progress.

It is showing Unset in Autostart order column but at the same time when I checked the status using CLI, Autostart was disabled on the same VMs.

As per Host Client, there must be only a single VM with Autostart enabled state in my environment but CLI shows all VMs have Autostart feature enabled.

(vim.host.AutoStartManager.AutoPowerInfo) [

   (vim.host.AutoStartManager.AutoPowerInfo) {

      key = 'vim.VirtualMachine:5',

      startOrder = 1,

      startDelay = 120,

      waitForHeartbeat = "systemDefault",

      startAction = "powerOn",

      stopDelay = 120,

      stopAction = "systemDefault"

   },

   (vim.host.AutoStartManager.AutoPowerInfo) {

      key = 'vim.VirtualMachine:9',

      startOrder = -1,

      startDelay = -1,

      waitForHeartbeat = "systemDefault",

      startAction = "powerOn",

      stopDelay = -1,

      stopAction = "systemDefault"

   },

   (vim.host.AutoStartManager.AutoPowerInfo) {

      key = 'vim.VirtualMachine:10',

      startOrder = -1,

      startDelay = -1,

      waitForHeartbeat = "systemDefault",

      startAction = "powerOn",

      stopDelay = -1,

      stopAction = "systemDefault"

Please suggest.

Regd.

Shahzad Khan

http://vmantra.in

[a_p_]

As mentioned by peetz, this was a bug in an older version of the host client. which has been fixed in version 1.24.

The issue was that that “<startAction>” remained at "powerOn" instead of being reset to “None” when disabling Autostart.

What should solve the issue, is to enable Autostart again, and then disable it with the new client version.

André

[eroztech]

Hi, Andre and Andreas,

I disabled and enabled the Autostart feature on VMs after updating Host client to the latest version and issue got resolved.

Many Thanks!!

Regd.

Shahzad Khan

http://vMantra.in

[GoingAlone]

Quick question, I'm using ESXi6.0 build 6921384 with the Client version: 1.22.0 build 6282878. I experienced the same issue after restarting the host. Had 3 of 4 vm's unset for autostart and they started. I see there is an edit option for autostart on the host itself. What exactly does this option do with the autostart functions? I disabled it and the settings on the vm's stayed what they were configured for. You can still enable machines to autostart. Have not had a chance to restart the host after changing this setting.

Thanks for any insight!