Cannot find VMware vSphere virtual machines by unique identifier using the vRealize Orchestrator Plug-in for VMware vRealize Automation 6.1, or directly in vSphere API

Products

• VMware

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• Cannot find VMware vSphere virtual machines by unique identifier using the vRealize Orchestrator (formerly known as VMware vCenter Orchestrator) Plug-in for vRealize Automation 6.1 (formerly known as VMware vCloud Automation Center for Server), or directly in vSphere API.
• The Workflow Runner helper workflow fails to locate the VC:VirtualMachine inventory object.
• Custom workflows invoked by the Workflow Runner workflow fails.
• You see the error:
  
  TypeError: Cannot read property "datastore" from null.

Cause

This issue occurs because VMware vRealize Automation 6.0 and earlier collected the inventory of vSphere virtual machines by their bios UUID.

VMware vCloud Director and other products could create virtual machines with duplicate bios UUIDs when created through a clone process, which caused vRealize Automation to collect just one virtual machine, when there may have been many, each with the same bios UUID. The bios UUID is stored as part of inventory collection as a virtual machine entity property named VMUniqueID. To guarantee unique identification for vSphere virtual machines, the config.uuid property is changed to config.instanceUuid.

Resolution

This issue is resolved in VMware vRealize Automation (formerly known as VMware vCloud Automation Center for Server) 6.2, available at VMware Downloads. For more information, see the VMware vRealize Automation 6.2 Release Notes.

If you are unable to upgrade at this time, you can work around this issue by performing these steps.

Download the updated workflow package for vRealize Automation 6.1.0, available at VMware Downloads and import the updated workflow package vRealize Automation Appliance.

To import the updated workflow package vRealize Automation Appliance:

1. Download the com.vmware.vcac61_uuid_wf_patch.package.
2. Log in to the vRealize Orchestrator (formerly known as VMware vCenter Orchestrator) client.
   To access the vRealize Orchestrator client, navigate to the vRealize Automation Appliance by using its FQDN, https://vcac-va hostname, and click the vRealize Orchestrator Client link.
3. On the Run page in the vRealize Orchestrator client, click the Import package button.
4. Select the com.vmware.vcac61_uuid_wf_patch.package that you downloaded in step 1.
5. Click Import. The Import Package window lists these packages:
   
   
   • Get VM by Name and BIOS Uuid
   • Get VM by Name and Uuid
   • Get VM Uuid
   • Workflow runner
   • Import vCenter Virtual Machine
   • isMultiMachine
   • getChildrenBps
   • getVirtualMachineByExternamRefId
   
   
6. Select all eight items and disregard any red arrows.
7. Click Import selected elements.

Verification:
Navigate to or search for each item and verify that the history is updated with the new version.

Note: Importing the new workflows does not cause any downtime, and can be done without shutting down services.

Additional Information

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VMware vRealize Automation 6.1 用の vRealize Orchestrator プラグインを使用しても、vSphere API 内で直接検索しても、一意の識別子によって VMware vSphere 仮想マシンを見つけられない
使用适用于 VMware vRealize Automation 6.1 的 vRealize Orchestrator 插件或直接在 vSphere API 中通过唯一标识符找不到 VMware vSphere 虚拟机

Impact/Risks:
Importing the new workflows does not cause any downtime, and is performed without shutting down services.