"Failed to rename replication tracking VM" error when failing over Virtual Machines in Cloud Director Availability 4.x
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"Failed to rename replication tracking VM" error when failing over Virtual Machines in Cloud Director Availability 4.x

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Article ID: 315145

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Updated On:

Products

VMware Cloud Director

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:
  • When performing a failover or a migration in Cloud Director Availability, the task completes successfully but you also see an error similar to:
Failed to rename replication tracking VM '11111111-2222-3333-4444-555555555555'.
Unexpected VMware Cloud Director error. [ UI-a23560ee-1cfd-49a2-80ab-8c88025972b5-t112-Jp-73161772-2bf0-41b4-909a-c52861226e5c ] java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException: (vim.fault.MethodDisabled) { faultCause = null, >faultMessage = null, source = ell1-vcd } - (vim.fault.MethodDisabled) { faultCause = null, faultMessage = null, source = ell1-vcd } - The method is disabled by 'ell1-vcd'
  • In vCenter Server you see that the failed over Virtual Machine has the correct name, but in Cloud Director it has a name that starts with rtvm-C4.
  • This issue occurs if you are using Cloud Director 10.5.1 and the Replication Tracking Virtual Machine (RT VM) placement solution introduced in Cloud Director Availability 4.7.


Environment

VMware Cloud Director 10.x
VMware Cloud Director Availability 4.x

Cause

This issue occurs because Cloud Director disables multiple methods when constructing the recovered Virtual Machine using the RT VM to prevent potential issues with the underlying replication prior to a failover or migration. Methods included in this configuration prevent Cloud Director from renaming the Virtual Machine, which in turn can prevent it from successfully completing the operation during failover or migration.

Resolution

This is a known issue affecting Cloud Director 10.5.1.
Currently, there is no resolution.

Workaround:
To workaround this issue, modify the methods Cloud Director disables for RT VMs in both Test Failover and Replication modes via the Cell Management Tool on one of the Cloud Director cells.

Note: This procedure only changes the behaviour for new failovers or migrations and will not impact existing recovered Virtual Machines. For recovered Virtual Machines that encountered the issue prior to these changes, the resulting objects will will need to be manually renamed to the desired value.
  1. Create a backup of the destination Cloud Director environment.
  2. Open an SSH session to one of the Cloud Director cells at the destination location.
  3. Use the Cell Management Tool command to modify the disabled methods list for RT VMs in Test Failover mode:
/opt/vmware/vcloud-director/bin/cell-management-tool manage-config -n TestFailoverModeRtVmDisabledMethods -v "CreateSecondaryVM_Task; CreateSecondaryVMEx_Task; DisableSecondaryVM_Task; EnableSecondaryVM_Task; InstantClone_Task; MakePrimaryVM_Task; MarkAsTemplate; MarkAsVirtualMachine; MigrateVM_Task; RelocateVM_Task; RemoveAllSnapshots_Task; SendNMI; setCustomValue; StartRecording_Task; StartReplaying_Task; StopRecording_Task; StopReplaying_Task; TerminateFaultTolerantVM_Task; TurnOffFaultToleranceForVM_Task; CloneVM_Task; Destroy_Task; PromoteDisks_Task; ConsolidateVMDisks_Task; DefragmentAllDisks;"
  1. Use the Cell Management Tool command to modify the disabled methods list for RT VMs in Replication mode:
/opt/vmware/vcloud-director/bin/cell-management-tool manage-config -n ReplicationModeRtVmDisabledMethods -v "AcquireMksTicket; AcquireTicket; AnswerVM; ApplyEvcModeVM_Task; AttachDisk_Task; CheckCustomizationSpec; ConsolidateVMDisks_Task; CreateScreenshot_Task; CreateSecondaryVM_Task; CreateSecondaryVMEx_Task; CryptoUnlock_Task; CustomizeVM_Task; DefragmentAllDisks; DetachDisk_Task; DisableSecondaryVM_Task; EnableSecondaryVM_Task; ExtractOvfEnvironment; InstantClone_Task; MakePrimaryVM_Task; MarkAsTemplate; MarkAsVirtualMachine; MigrateVM_Task; MountToolsInstaller; PowerOffVM_Task; PowerOnVM_Task; PromoteDisks_Task; PutUsbScanCodes; QueryChangedDiskAreas; QueryUnownedFiles; RebootGuest; RefreshStorageInfo; Reload; RelocateVM_Task; RemoveAllSnapshots_Task; ResetGuestInformation; ResetVM_Task; SendNMI; setCustomValue; SetDisplayTopology; SetScreenResolution; ShutdownGuest; StandbyGuest; StartRecording_Task; StartReplaying_Task; StopRecording_Task; StopReplaying_Task; SuspendVM_Task; TerminateFaultTolerantVM_Task; TerminateVM; TurnOffFaultToleranceForVM_Task; UnmountToolsInstaller; UpgradeTools_Task; CloneVM_Task;"

Note: These changes apply to the entire Cloud Director instance and only needs to be run once on any Cloud Director cell.
  1. Confirm that the changes have applied using the following commands:
/opt/vmware/vcloud-director/bin/cell-management-tool manage-config -n TestFailoverModeRtVmDisabledMethods -l
 
/opt/vmware/vcloud-director/bin/cell-management-tool manage-config -n ReplicationModeRtVmDisabledMethods -l

Note: These commands will not return any values prior to the updates made in the previous step.


Additional Information

If the default settings are preferred, the following commands can be performed to reset the commands to the original behaviour:
/opt/vmware/vcloud-director/bin/cell-management-tool manage-config -n TestFailoverModeRtVmDisabledMethods -d
 
/opt/vmware/vcloud-director/bin/cell-management-tool manage-config -n ReplicationModeRtVmDisabledMethods -d


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