Permission to perform this operation is denied

[pearlyshells]

Am trying to perform vMotion of Virtual Machine. have been successful doing this with others in the same Host or with other VMs in other hosts. It is just this one VM. When I try to perform vmotion (live or cold), I get message:

Permission to perform this operation is denied.

checked VM permissions and I'm the administrator and have adequate permissions.

One thing I did notice is that a vRanger backup failed last night. However our backup administrator states that the problem is not with the backup. I've never encountered this problem before. Also, when I right click over the VM, I notice that most of the options are greyed out. It's almost as if the VM is in a powered on state...but, it doesn't matter if it is or is not. The same thing is seen in both the power on and power off state of the VM.

Can anyone help?

[skyenter]

Can you check the VM state by typing “vmware-cmd //server.vmx getstate”? Can you open vmx file of the vm?

[pearlyshells]

thanks for you assistance. Do I type that command from the host console on which the VM exists?

[skyenter]

Yes. Thru SSH console of ESX server, first of all, type vmware-cmd -l to find out the VM.

[pearlyshells]

I am not getting any results. Perhaps, I am mistyping the string

vmware-cmd //(server).vms getstate

Is that correct? I am typing the command at the DataStore in which the VMX file exists

[skyenter]

Please provide the result of vmware-cmd -l

[pearlyshells]

when I type the full path:

# vmware-cmd //vmfs/volumes/47bef429-609cecc0-5826-0019b9c9de9b/CADTiburon01/CADTiburon01.vmx getstate

getstate() = on

[pearlyshells]

/vmfs/volumes/47bef429-609cecc0-5826-0019b9c9de9b/CADTiburon01/CADTiburon01.vmx

This is what comes up

Cal

[skyenter]

That shows that you can access vmx file of the VM. Can you try to access the VM after the access to ESX server directly thru VI Client not thru VC server? The option to power off the VM is still grayed out?

If then,

• Login to the service console

• To forcibly stop type vmware-cmd /vmfs/volumes/47bef429-609cecc0-5826-0019b9c9de9b/CADTiburon01/CADTiburon01.vmx stop hard”

• Check VM state again, it should now be off

• Type “vmware-cmd /vmfs/volumes/47bef429-609cecc0-5826-0019b9c9de9b/CADTiburon01/CADTiburon01.vmx start” to power on VM

After the power it on, try to vmotion the vm to other ESX server.

[pearlyshells]

I am able to access the VM and log on. It's just doing VC functions that gets me the error message...like vmotion, In a powered on state ...when I right click over the VM, the items that are greyed out are:

Snapshot

Migrate

Clone

Send Cntrl-Alt-Del

Install/Update Vmware Tools

..........to name the key features that are unavailable to me

[skyenter]

Only that VM on ESX server? Other VMs are ok on the same ESX server? If then, there is something wrong on the VM like configuration corruption, whatever,,, Sorry but that is what I can think of ...

One more thing, what is the permission of the vmx file? Run ls -l of the directory where the vmx is located.

[pearlyshells]

that is correct. Just this one VM...no other VM. So, you think its VM corruption even though the VM itself works fine otherwise. Is there any way to fix the corruption without losing the VM?

[skyenter]

One more thing, what is the permission of the vmx file? Run ls -l of the directory where the vmx is located. Compare with the other VM. Upload the result.

[pearlyshells]

Here's a comparison of permissions of another VM that is fine against the VM having issues (CADTiburon01)

CADTiburon01 permissions on VMX

-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 2232 Jun 6 10:28 CADTiburon01.vmx

AS524

-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 2497 Jun 6 06:58 AS524_VM.vmx

Cal

[kjb007]

If items are greyed out, then there is a permission issue at the vc level. If you connect vi client directly to esx host, do you get options like snapshot, send ctrl-alt-delete, install tools?

Select your vm on the left-hand side of the vc gui, and look at the permissions tab, make sure your permissions are correct. If you are in multiple groups and give different permissions to different groups, then this can cause issues upon permission propagation. Connecting directly to an esx server with the vi client will tell you if there is a problem with vc or with the vm.

-KjB

[pearlyshells]

connected VI Client and VM. All the items you mentioned are greyed out

[kjb007]

When you connected, you are connected as root to the esx server directly?

-KjB

[pearlyshells]

no. have been using an alternate DataCenter Administrator

[skyenter]

I understand that it does not make sense because only one VM is not and the others are ok but can you try to access the ESX using root account?