Clone VM failing across vCenters with error "Invalid datastore path '[DATASTORE_NAME] <VM_NAME>_2/<VM_NAME>-000001.vmdk'."

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Cloning a VM from one vCenter to another fails with error "Invalid datastore path '[DATASTORE_NAME] <VM_NAME>_2/<VM_NAME>-000001.vmdk'." if disk or hardware configuration changes are made to the new VM as part of the cloning process.

vpxd logs on the destination vCenter server similar to below:

2023-08-15T18:34:39.866Z info vpxd[06646] [Originator@6876 sub=Default opID=<UUID_1>] [VpxLRO] -- ERROR session[<UUID_2> -- workflow-session[<UUID_12> -- vpx.vmprov.Workflow.execute: vim.fault.InvalidDatastorePath:
--> Result:
--> (vim.fault.InvalidDatastorePath) {
-->    faultCause = (vmodl.MethodFault) null,
-->    faultMessage = <unset>,
-->    datastore = <unset>,
-->    name = <unset>, 
-->    datastorePath = "[<DATA_CENTER_NAME>] <VM_NAME>_2/<VM_NAME>_39-000001.vmdk" <---- Caused by the datastore path
-->    msg = ""
--> }
--> Args:
-->
--> Arg actionType:
--> "vpx.vmprov.ReconfigureVm" ----- > followed by reconfigureVM task 

vpxd logs will show source and destination datastore are different between two

-->                      backing = (vim.vm.device.VirtualDisk.FlatVer2BackingInfo) {
-->                         fileName = "ds:///vmfs/volumes/<UUID_5>/<VM_NAME>_2/<VM_NAME>_39-000004.vmdk",
-->                         datastore = 'vim.Datastore:<UUID_3>:datastore-<UUID_4>', <=== source datastore 
-->                         backingObjectId = "",
-->                         diskMode = "persistent",
-->                         split = false,
-->                         writeThrough = false,
-->                         thinProvisioned = true,
-->                         eagerlyScrub = false,
-->                         uuid = "<UUID_6>",
-->                         contentId = "<UUID_7>",
-->                         changeId = <unset>,
-->                         parent = (vim.vm.device.VirtualDisk.FlatVer2BackingInfo) {
-->                            fileName = "ds:///vmfs/volumes/<UUID_5>/<VM_NAME>_2/<VM_NAME>_39-000001.vmdk",
-->                            datastore = 'vim.Datastore:<UUID_3>:datastore-<UUID_4>', <=== source datastore  
-->                            backingObjectId = "", 
-->                            diskMode = "persistent",
-->                            split = <unset>,
-->                            writeThrough = <unset>,
-->                            thinProvisioned = true,
-->                            eagerlyScrub = false,
-->                            uuid = "<UUID_6>",
-->                            contentId = "<UUID_7>",
-->                            changeId = <unset>,
-->                            parent = (vim.vm.device.VirtualDisk.FlatVer2BackingInfo) {
-->                               fileName = "ds:///vmfs/volumes/<UUID_5>/<VM_NAME>_2/<VM_NAME>_39.vmdk",
-->                               datastore = 'vim.Datastore:<UUID_3>:datastore-<UUID_4>', <=== source datastore 
-->                               backingObjectId = "",
-->                               diskMode = "persistent",
-->                               split = <unset>,
-->                               writeThrough = <unset>,
-->                               thinProvisioned = true,
-->                               eagerlyScrub = false,
-->                               uuid = "<UUID_6>",
-->                               contentId = "<UUID_8>",
-->                               changeId = <unset>,
-->                               parent = (vim.vm.device.VirtualDisk.FlatVer2BackingInfo) null,
-->                               deltaDiskFormat = <unset>,



-->                      backing = (vim.vm.device.VirtualDisk.FlatVer2BackingInfo) {
-->                         fileName = "ds:///vmfs/volumes/<UUID_11>/<VM_NAME_2>/<VM_NAME_2>_40.vmdk",  <===== This destination datastore is different.
-->                         datastore = 'vim.Datastore:<UUID_9>:datastore-<UUID_10>', 
-->                         backingObjectId = "",
-->                         diskMode = "persistent",
-->                         split = false,
-->                         writeThrough = false,
-->                         thinProvisioned = true,
-->                         eagerlyScrub = false,
-->                         uuid = "<UUID_6>",
-->                         contentId = "<UUID_7>",
-->                         changeId = <unset>,
-->                         parent = (vim.vm.device.VirtualDisk.FlatVer2BackingInfo) {
-->                            fileName = "[<DATA_CENTER_NAME>] <VM_NAME>_2/<VM_NAME>_39-000001.vmdk",
-->                            datastore = 'vim.Datastore:<UUID_3>:datastore-<UUID_4>', 
-->                            backingObjectId = "",
-->                            diskMode = "persistent",
-->                            split = <unset>,
-->                            writeThrough = <unset>,
-->                            thinProvisioned = true,
-->                            eagerlyScrub = false,
-->                            uuid = "<UUID_6>",
-->                            contentId = "<UUID_7>",
-->                            changeId = <unset>,
-->                            parent = (vim.vm.device.VirtualDisk.FlatVer2BackingInfo) {
-->                               fileName = "[<DATA_CENTER_NAME>] <VM_NAME>_2/<VM_NAME>_39.vmdk",
-->                               datastore = 'vim.Datastore:<UUID_3>:datastore-<UUID_4>',
-->                               backingObjectId = "",
-->                               diskMode = "persistent",

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0

Cause

This is due to the use of the "VirtualMachineConfigSpec" API to apply hardware changes to a cloned virtual machine.

VirtualMachineCloneSpec

Resolution

There is no resolution for this issue currently.

Workaround:
Do not make any hardware changes to the new VM as part of the clone process. Create the clone first, then make hardware changes afterward.