VM is visible registered twice in vCenter inventory with same name.

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

• Upon verifying the vCenter inventory, the VM with same name is visible registered twice.
  
  
  
  
• Upon reviewing the ESXi host UI & CLI directly, we can see only 1 VM registered on the same host. 
  

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi

Cause

Based on the above issue verification, since the duplicate VM is only visible on vCenter inventory and not on host UI/ CLI directly, there is possible vCenter database level inconsistencies caused because of manual Re-registration of an Existing VM.

Refer to following most common possible causes for this issue:

1. Manual Re-registration of an Existing VM (Most Common).
2. Partial/Failed vMotion or Storage vMotion.
3. vCenter Database Inconsistency or Corruption
4. ESXi Host Disconnect/Reconnect Issues
5. Creating a New VM from Existing Disks (and Naming Conflict).

Resolution

The host with dual VM inventory is disconnected and reconnected from vCenter level to resolve the issue. 

For the scenario where vCenter shows a VM registered (and possibly powered on) twice, but the ESXi host confirms only one registration, the following solution is highly effective:

1. Identify the Affected Host: Determine which ESXi host the VM is actually running on (or supposed to be running on).
   
   
2. Disconnect the ESXi Host from vCenter:
   • In vCenter, navigate to Hosts and Clusters.
   • Right-click on the problematic ESXi host.
   • Select Connection > Disconnect.
   • Confirm the disconnection (this will not affect running VMs on the host).
     
     
3. Reconnect the ESXi Host to vCenter:
   • Right-click on the same ESXi host.
   • Select Connection > Connect.
   • vCenter will then re-read the host's inventory and synchronize its database.

 

 

Additional Information

Refer to following KB for more details on disconnecting and reconnecting the ESXi host from vCenter: https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article/303652