In a vSphere HA cluster, what does vSphere HA do when it does not receive heartbeats from a VM?

In a vSphere HA cluster, when heartbeat signals from a virtual machine (VM) are not detected, the system initiates a failover process to ensure the availability of that VM. The proper response in this scenario is to attempt a restart of the VM on the same host where it was running. This action is based on the assumption that the VM may have become unresponsive due to a temporary issue rather than a complete host failure.

If the VM does not come back online after a specified timeout period, and if it is determined that the host itself is non-functional, only then will vSphere HA consider restarting the VM on a different host in the cluster. This approach minimizes downtime and helps maintain service continuity.

The other options indicate actions that may occur under different circumstances but are not correct for the specific situation of not receiving heartbeats. For instance, suspending or migrating VMs do not apply to heartbeat absence situations, as they pertain to other types of operational management not specifically linked to heartbeat detection.