Troubleshooting virtual machines

Causes and remedies for a refused power-on, a virtual machine that is not placed, a console that does not open and refused configuration changes.

Every refusal comes with a message id such as error.host.insufficient_memory. The error codes page leads from the id to the full entry.

Power-on refused

Cause. The most common causes are:

The host has too little free memory: error.host.insufficient_memory.
The licence allows no further running virtual machine: error.licence.limit_running_vms. Suspended and powered-off machines do not count.
The virtual machine is not in a power state that allows it, for example because a task is still running on it: error.invalid_power_state.
The host is in maintenance mode: error.host_in_maintenance.

Remedy. Read the message in the task of the tasks pane. Power off machines that are not needed, give the machine less memory with Edit settings, or relocate it, see Relocate. kyvernon tasks list --target <id> shows the tasks of the virtual machine. For the licence, an administrator checks kyvernon licence show.

Not placed

Cause. The virtual machine has no host and no host could be chosen. Operations that reach into the running machine, such as the console and guest operations, need one: error.vm_not_placed. The console also reports it as Not available until the virtual machine is placed on a host.

Remedy. Power the virtual machine on so that Kyvernon places it. When that fails, no connected host fits: an administrator checks that a host is connected and not in maintenance mode.

Console not available

Cause. One of these:

The virtual machine is powered off: error.console.powered_off.
The virtual machine has no graphical console: error.console.not_available.
The host is not connected: error.console.host_disconnected.
More than 20 tickets were asked for in one minute: error.console.rate_limited.
The ticket was used or is older than 30 seconds: error.console.ticket_invalid.

Remedy. Power the machine on and open the console again. Without a graphical console use Serial log. Request a new ticket for each connection.

Configuration change refused

Cause. The change breaks a rule that the task checks before it starts:

More vCPUs than the host has, or than max_vcpus_per_vm allows: error.vm.exceeds_host_cpu.
More memory than the host can give: error.vm.exceeds_host_memory.
More devices than a machine has slots for: error.vm.too_many_devices.
A disk made smaller: error.disk.shrink_not_supported.
A disk larger than the datastore can give: error.datastore.insufficient_space.
Someone else changed the virtual machine meanwhile: error.vm.concurrent_modification.
A decrease, or a change of firmware, on a machine that runs: error.invalid_power_state.

Remedy. Choose values inside the limits of Virtual machine concepts, reload the virtual machine and repeat the change, or power the machine off first.

Guest operations unavailable

Cause. The guest agent does not run, does not answer or is set to refuse the operation: error.guest_operations_unavailable.

Remedy. Check the agent under Guest, install or restart it in the guest, and see Guest operations.