Reverse replication in VMware Cloud Director Availability 4.x fails with “The VMware Cloud Director entity com.vmware.vcloud.entity.vm:<UUID> does not exist” error

Products

• VMware Cloud Director

Issue/Introduction

In VMware Cloud Director Availability, reverse replication attempts fail with the following error observed in the UI or logs:

Unexpected VMware Cloud Director error.  
The VMware Cloud Director entity com.vmware.vcloud.entity.vm:<VM-UUID> does not exist.  
The VMware Cloud Director entity com.vmware.vcloud.entity.vapp:<vApp-UUID> does not exist.  

This occurs during reverse replication tasks when VCDA is unable to interact with the target VM or vApp entities.

Environment

VMware Cloud Director Availability 4.7.3

Cause

This issue typically occurs when the VM or vApp that VCDA is attempting to reverse no longer exists in VMware Cloud Director (Source). 

Resolution

Step 1: Confirm Entity Absence in VCD

1. Log in to the VMware Cloud Director UI.

2. Search for the following UUIDs to confirm they do not exist:

   • VM UUID: ########-####-####-####-############

   • vApp UUID: ########-####-####-####-############

3. If they are not found, proceed to cleanup in VCDA.

Step 2: Clean Up Orphaned Replication in VCDA

1. Access the VCDA UI on the source site.

2. Navigate to "Replications" → "Reverse" tab.

3. Locate the failed replication for the affected VM (e.g., vm-name).

4. Attempt to delete the replication from the UI.

Step 3: Reconfigure and Perform Reverse Replication

To restore replication in the correct direction:

1. Reconfigure the VM for replication from the destination site (which now becomes the new source).

2. Perform a failover to bring the workload online at the destination site.

3. Initiate a reverse replication from the new source (previous destination) to the new destination (original site, where the VM is now missing).

This process re-establishes the replication flow with the correct direction and ensures consistent state alignment.