"Found multiple VMs with same external ID ########-####-####-####-############" reported in NSX Manager

Products

• VMware NSX

Issue/Introduction

Attempting to apply tags to a VM fails with the message:

• "Found multiple VMs with same external ID ########-####-####-####-############"

Example AddNode log line in /var/log/nsx-sylog.log from an ESXi host:

• nsx-opsagent[#######]: NSX ####### - [nsx@6876 comp="nsx-esx" subcomp="opsagent" s2comp="upm" tid="#######" level="INFO"] UPMTable::AddNode: Add node VM (id ########-####-####-####-############, vdb_id #)

Example DeleteNode log line from ESXi log /var/log/nsxsyslog.log:

• nsx-opsagent[#######]: NSX ####### - [nsx@6876 comp="nsx-esx" subcomp="opsagent" s2comp="upm" tid="#######" level="INFO"] UPMTable::DeleteNode: Delete node VM (id ########-####-####-####-############)

Environment

VMware NSX

Cause

NSX reports duplicate external IDs for VMs when frequent AddNode/DeleteNode events referencing the VM ID are logged in /var/log/nsx-syslog.log on ESXi hosts.

The duplicate external IDs should resolve once NSX is done processing the final DeleteNode event.

Resolution

Identify what is causing the VM to repeatedly vMotion or otherwise experience repeated AddNode/DeleteNode events on ESXi hosts (this can also be triggered by automation causing repeated VM create events for the same name).