LabManager V4 - vDS - Maintenance Mode

I've been "playing" in the Lab and got hit by a small gotcha ...

If you are using Labmanager on a vSphere cluster with vDS enabled, you can have your configurations span more than one ESX server. That is one of the great enhancement of LabManager v4. I love it!

But to do that you must enable the host for host spanning :

But you must read the small letters under the checkbox : "Host Spanning must be disabled for the host to be able to enter stanby or maintenance mode."

Indeed, when you want to put the host in maintenance mode, you will notice that at least 1 VM refuses to move (either DRS or manual VMotion). Even worse, you can't shutdown that VM ! When you look at the VM in vCenter you get the following screen :

To be able to enter maintenance mode, go back to the host properties page in LabManager and uncheck the "Enable host spanning" box. This will shutdown that VM and you will be able to proceed with the maintenance mode.

Of course, once the maintenance is completed, you'll have to renable it !

Have fun in your lab !