"ds:///vmfs/volumes/datastore/vm_name" name appears for cloud-managed virtual machines

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• Cloud-managed virtual machine's name appears with the location of storage:
  ds:///vmfs/volumes/datastore/vm_name
   
• This issue happens when re-registering virtual machines using the PowerCLI command:

 

New-VM -VMHost Hostname -VMFilePath DatastoreFullPath

Note: The parameter Name is optional when re-registering a virtual machine. VMware recommends to use that parameter in every scenario.

For example:
New-VM -VMHost Hostname -VMFilePath DatastoreFullPath -Name VMname

Note: If this command was not used, it may occur in vCenter Server after an upgrade.

Environment

VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.0.x
VMware vCenter Server 6.0.x

Cause

This issue occurs due to a mismatch between tables in the vCenter Server database.

This article applies to cloud-manages environments only, for other environments, see Virtual machines names appear as ds:///vmfs/volumes/datastore/vm_name

Resolution

The ds:///vmfs/volumes/datastore/vm_name issue is resolved in VMware vCenter Server 6.0 Update 3 for cloud-managed environments.

 

Workaround:

To work around the ds:///vmfs/volumes/datastore/vm_name issue, use any one of these options:

• Rename the affected virtual machine name manually.
• Migrating the affected virtual machines will restore the name.
• If the number of affected virtual machines is high, perform these steps.

In larger environments, it may be difficult to identify all of the affected virtual machines. This method can be used to compare the two tables mentioned:

Note: Ensure to take full database backup before proceeding with the steps. For more information, see, Backing up the vCenter Server database running on Microsoft SQL or SQL Express server (2012138)

1. On the database, use either one of these SQL queries. These queries do not make any change to the database.
   
   Note: You may validate using both queries
   
   select ENTITY.NAME, CONFIGINFO.NAME FROM
   VPX_ENTITY AS entity
   INNER JOIN VPX_VM_CONFIG_INFO AS configinfo
   ON entity.id = configinfo.id
   
   This query returns all the virtual machine names from the VPX_VM_CONFIG_INFO table with the associated virtual machine names found in the VPX_ENTITY table.
   
   All Virtual machine names should match between the columns. Each column contains the name field from the respective tables. If one row contains columns that are NOT matching, you may need to use the following SQL query.
   
   select ENTITY.NAME, CONFIGINFO.NAME FROM
   VPX_ENTITY AS entity
   INNER JOIN VPX_VM_CONFIG_INFO AS configinfo
   ON entity.id = configinfo.id
   WHERE ENTITY.NAME != CONFIGINFO.NAME
   
   This query returns all the Virtual machine names for which there is a mismatch between the VPX_VM_CONFIG_INFO and VPX_ENTITY tables. If there is no mismatch, the query does not return any row.
    
2. If there is a mismatch and you are not fixing it manually, stop the vCenter Server service and run these SQL update statement to make the two tables match again:
    
   UPDATE
   VPX_ENTITY
   SET
   name = configinfo.name
   FROM
   VPX_ENTITY AS entity
   INNER JOIN VPX_VM_CONFIG_INFO AS configinfo
   ON entity.id = configinfo.id
   WHERE configinfo.name != entity.name
    
3. Start the vCenter Server service and the virtual machines names will appear on the vCenter inventory list.

 

Additional Information

• Backing up the vCenter Server database running on Microsoft SQL or SQL Express server (2012138)
• There are multiple tools available to generate a full backup of an Oracle database, depending on your version and installation. For more information on creating a full backup, see Oracle's documentation and support site. For example, see the Oracle database Backup and Recovery FAQ.
• For troubleshooting information about the problem happening within the non-cloud-managed vCenter/ESXi product, please see Virtual machines names appear as ds:///vmfs/volumes/datastore/vm_name

Note: The preceding links were correct as of August 26, 2016. If you find a link is broken, please provide feedback and a VMware employee will update the link.

Impact/Risks:

• Before doing this procedure, make sure you have a full database backup.
• This procedure is low risk, but can be reverted by restoring the backup.