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Thanks for the insight. &nbsp;Does putting the host into maintenance mode initiate VMotioning the resident VM's to another host? &nbsp; &nbsp;I'm assuming I shut off the VM's before entering maint. mode.
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Thanks for the insight.  Does putting the host into maintenance mode initiate VMotioning the resident VM's to another host?    I'm assuming I shut off the VM's before entering maint. mode.

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If you have a Cluster with HA Enabled and DRS set to Automatic....<br />
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Entering Maintenance will evacuate the host!<br />
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After All VMs are moved OFF via vMotion the Host then enters Maintenance Mode...<br />
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Another good reason to put in Maintenance Mode otherwise you would have to manually Migrate vMotion each VM.
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If you have a Cluster with HA Enabled and DRS set to Automatic....

Entering Maintenance will evacuate the host!

After All VMs are moved OFF via vMotion the Host then enters Maintenance Mode...

Another good reason to put in Maintenance Mode otherwise you would have to manually Migrate vMotion each VM.

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I have to move a SAN to a different UPS temporarily. &nbsp;I saw that sometimes people use maintenance mode and other times they simply shut everything down and power off. &nbsp;Can someone explain maintenance mode and why I'd want to use it vs. just shutting down? &nbsp;Thanks.
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I have to move a SAN to a different UPS temporarily.  I saw that sometimes people use maintenance mode and other times they simply shut everything down and power off.  Can someone explain maintenance mode and why I'd want to use it vs. just shutting down?  Thanks.

VMware 4.0: maintenance mode vs shutdown, which in which situations?

VMware, a software company founded in 1998,  was one of the first commercially successful companies to offer x86 virtualization. The storage company EMC purchased VMware in 1994. Dell Technologies acquired EMC in 2016. VMware’s parent company is now Dell Technologies.

VMware has many software products that run on desktops, Microsoft Windows, Linux, and macOS, which allows the virtualizing of the x86 architecture.  Its enterprise software hypervisor for servers, VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi), is a bare-metal hypervisor that runs directly on the server hardware and does not require an additional underlying operating system.

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Virtualization is the act of creating a virtual (rather than actual) version of something, including (but not limited to) a virtual computer hardware platform, operating system (OS), storage device, or computer network resources. Virtualization is usually the creation of a system that executes separate from the underlying hardware resources, or the creation of an entire desktop for systems located elsewhere, similar to thin clients.