Cross VCenter VMotion fails with the error “A specified parameter was not correct: path”

March 28, 2022 at 12:11 pm 6 comments

Recently , we had to migrate some VM’s from a VSphere 6.7(17499825) to 7.0 U2 cluster. We leveraged the Import VM’s feature that utilizes the Cross VCenter VMotion capability.

The source: VCenter 7.0
The destination: VCenter 6.7

Even though , the required access between the clusters were allowed(based on https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2106952) , when we tried to trigger the import VM’s there were no process or tasks being generated in both vcenters. However , we noticed a failed task on the VM that we are trying to import in the destination VCenter( under the tasks and events for the particular VM )wiith the message “A specified parameter was not correct: path”.

We started reviewing the hostd.log on both sides but no avail. Finally , out of exhaustion , we tried to changed the source datastore to a different one(In our scenario the datastore names were identical on both sides) and voila the import VM’s got kicked in and completed successfully. Still , I am not sure the cause for this behavior where the import of VM’s failing due to identical datastore names on both sides , so we have opened a case with VMware support to find out the root cause. I will updating this post as soon as I receive the response.

Tip: Also during the import VM’s wizard (3rd step) where we select the desired to host to place the imported VM on the source cluster we were receiving a SSL related error. This was resolved after disabling the SSL inspection on our firewall

Entry filed under: VMware. Tags: A specified parameter was not correct: path, cross vcenter vmotion, import vm.

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6 Comments Add your own

1. Mahesh KumarV | May 11, 2022 at 7:09 am

Hi,
Good to see that issue is resolved.
I have a similar issue where I am trying to migration VM from one VC to another VC. Both running on 6.7 version. I am using fling cross vcenter workload migration tool. It was working fine initially, but now not working. All the firewall ports are opened as per the requirements.
My source is running UCS hardware and target is running on Nutanix hardware. When I try to migrate, I get “a specified parameter was not correct:spec.pool” error on the source VC. Please shed some information where could be the issue.
Reply
- 2. Muralee | May 15, 2022 at 12:46 pm
  
  Hi
  Since you are saying it was working before , was there any changes made in your environment that could have caused the migration to fail. Also , If these 2 clusters are in two different subnets , make sure there is no restriction (especially SSL inspection ,etc) on the traffic?
  Reply
  - 3. Mahesh KumarV | May 15, 2022 at 1:03 pm
    
    Hi,
    
    Thanks for the response. Our team disabled backup NICs on the target cluster as the existing VMs on that cluster getting snapshot/backup failures. Other than that, we didn’t make any changes. Both source and target cluster are in different subnet and firewall port is open already for the required ports. Our firewall team confirmed traffic flow and no drop between the source and target hosts as well as no packet drops. Please advise on how to verify about the SSL.
  - 4. Muralee | May 15, 2022 at 1:18 pm
    
    The FW team can capture it via wireshark , or simply review the rules .
  - 5. Mahesh KumarV | May 18, 2022 at 3:08 pm
    
    Hi Muralee,
    Finally able to migrate the VMs after I left the “resource pool” blank while keying in target details in the migration tool. Problem was In the drop-down, I see “resources” which is actually not present in my target VC as well as source.
  - 6. Muralee | May 19, 2022 at 9:20 am
    
    Hi Mahesh
    Glad to hear that , and thanks for sharing the solution as well.