VM stuck in invalid state after export

After trying to export a VM and cancelling the export it could happen that the VM is nolonger responsive (no start, unregister, delete, … possible)

The hostd.log (in the /var/log directory on the ESXi) will show an error similar to:

2021-09-07T10:55:19.583Z error hostd[2099544] [Originator@6876 sub=Vmsvc.vm:/vmfs/volumes/XXXXXXXX-05c01598-574e-88d7f6d5ef52/myvm/myvm.vmx opID=esxui-6c72-aafe user=root] Invalid transition requested (VM_STATE_EXPORTING -> VM_STATE_DELETING): Invalid state
2021-09-07T10:55:19.583Z warning hostd[2099544] [Originator@6876 sub=Vmsvc.vm:/vmfs/volumes/XXXXXXXX-05c01598-574e-88d7f6d5ef52/myvm/myvm.vmx opID=esxui-6c72-aafe user=root] Method fault exception during VM destroy: Fault cause: vim.fault.InvalidPowerState

It seems the VM is somehow stuck in the Exporting-state and therefore no other operation is possible on the VM .

As a workaround log in to the ESXi Host and restart the Management Agents (https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/1003490)

Bash – Monitor directory size for change

A simple bash-script to easily monitor if a directory has grown or shrunk in size:

while [ 1 ]; do result=$(du -s * | egrep "bitcoin-0.21.1$"); echo -e "\e[95m$result\e[0m"; curSize=$(echo $result | cut -d" " -f1); if [ $curSize -lt $oldSize ]; then echo -e
 "\e[92mShrunk: $curSize\e[0m"; else echo -e "\e[91mGrown: $curSize\e[0m"; fi; oldSize=$curSize; sleep 5; done

Script needs to be executed in the parrent directory of the monitored dir and directory name must be adapted: bitcoin-0.21.1$ -> to whatever you want to grep for