What is required before unmounting a datastore from ESXi hosts?

Before unmounting a datastore from ESXi hosts, it is essential to ensure that the datastore does not contain powered-off virtual machines. This is because even powered-off virtual machines can prevent the datastore from being unmounted. The ESXi host may still reference these virtual machines for configuration or management purposes, which leads to potential conflicts during the unmounting process.

Unmounting a datastore that contains powered-off virtual machines could lead to issues with data consistency or VM management. The system needs to be in a state where it can ensure there are no dependencies on the datastore being unmounted. Therefore, confirming that there are no powered-off VMs on the datastore is a critical prerequisite for a safe and effective unmounting process.

Managing the state of powered-off VMs and avoiding them on the datastore maintains a clean operational environment, facilitating smoother storage management activities such as unmounting.