All Paths Down: every route from an ESX host to a storage device has dropped, but no PDL signal says the loss is permanent, so it may recover. HA's VM Component Protection can act on this as well as on PDL.
Also called All Paths Down.
Read more: Broadcom TechDocs
In the Ultra Transcenders books
Each book explains APD in context, with comparison tables and the common traps.
Terms in this definition
- ESX
VMware's bare-metal hypervisor, installed on each host in a VCF fleet. Up to version 9.0 it was known as ESXi.
- General-purpose v1
The older storage account kind (
Storage), which lacks access tiers, Archive and premium file shares and retires on 13 October 2026. Converting to ZRS requires first upgrading to GPv2, a one-way change. - PDL
Permanent device loss: an ESX host loses a device for good, through removal, a changed ID or an unrecoverable fault. HA VM Component Protection can then power off affected VMs and restart them.
- VM Component Protection
A vSphere HA capability that restarts VMs affected by storage connectivity loss, covering both permanent device loss and all-paths-down conditions.