Provisioning request for new virtual machines fail with "Provisioning operation failed. Error from vCenter: The name 'PlaceHolderVMName' already exists."

Products

• VCF Operations/Automation (formerly VMware Aria Suite)

Issue/Introduction

• When attempting to provision virtual machines from Aria Automation you receive errors similar to the following:

  Provisioning operation failed. Cannot deploy library item.
  Provisioning operation failed. Error from vCenter: The name 'XXXXXXX' already exists.
  com.vmware.vapi.std.errors.already_exists

   
• The following error message is found within the /services-logs/prelude/provisioning-service-app/file-logs/provisioning-service-app.log:

  Provisioning operation failed. Cannot deploy library item 0xxxxx-7163:{"output":{"STRUCTURE":{"com.vmware.vcenter.ovf.library_item.deployment_result":{"resource_id":{"OPTIONAL":null},"error":{"OPTIONAL":{"STRUCTURE":{"com.vmware.vcenter.ovf.library_item.result_info":{"warnings":[{"STRUCTURE":{"com.vmware.vcenter.ovf.ovf_warning":{"name":{"OPTIONAL":""},"category":"INPUT","message":{"OPTIONAL":{"STRUCTURE":{"com.vmware.vapi.std.localizable_message":{
  {"OPTIONAL":null}}}}},"error":{"OPTIONAL":null},"issues":{"OPTIONAL":null},"value":{"OPTIONAL":""}}}}],"information":[],"errors":[{"STRUCTURE":{"com.vmware.vcenter.ovf.ovf_error":{"name":{"OPTIONAL":null},"category":"SERVER","message":{"OPTIONAL":null},"error":{"OPTIONAL":{"ERROR":{"com.vmware.vapi.std.errors.already_exists":{"data":{"OPTIONAL":null},"error_type":{"OPTIONAL":"ALREADY_EXISTS"},"messages":[{"STRUCTURE":{"com.vmware.vapi.std.localizable_message":{"args":["VirtualMachine","yyyxxxxxxxxzz"],"default_message":"An object of type \"VirtualMachine\" named \"yyyxxxxxxxzzz\" already exists.","localized":{"OPTIONAL":null},"id":"com.vmware.vdcs.util.duplicate_name","params":{"OPTIONAL":null}}}}]}}}},"issues":{"OPTIONAL":null},"value":{"OPTIONAL":null}}}}]}}}},"succeeded":false}}}}

   

Environment

VMware Aria Automation 8.x

Cause

The cluster of Aria Automation appliances are experiencing time skew.

 

This interferes with web requests and job handling between appliances, leading to deployment request failures.

Resolution

Verify and correct time synchronization between VMware Aria Automation appliances in the same cluster.

 

To enable time synchronization of VMware Aria Automation, refer How do I enable time synchronization of VMware Aria Automation