Guest OS customization are not being applied as part of HCX Bulk Migration

Products

• VMware HCX

Issue/Introduction

• Guest OS customization (specifically IP and DNS change) are not being applied as part of HCX Bulk Migration. OS - RHEL 7 and Windows 2019.
• Once Migration completes, VM is not accessible on the network. Using target side vCenter, remoting into the VM shows no IP is configured. 
• Reviewing the "vmware.log" found in target ESXi host </vmfs/volumes/datastore/vm-name/vmware.log>
  

  <timestamps> UTC Wa(03) vmx - DEPLOYPKG: ToolsDeployPkgRpcCBUpdateState: Encounter error during deployPkg in guest OS
  <timestamps> UTC In(05) vmx - DEPLOYPKG: ToolsDeployPkgPublishState: state=4, code=100, message=C:/Windows/TEMP/vmware-imc/guestcust.log@NICs are not ready

• Reviewing "guestcust.log" from the guest-OS located in <C:/Windows/TEMP/vmware-imc/guestcust.log>
  

  [<timestamps> UTC:                 AdapterConfig:  DEBUG] Getting adapter name corresponding to the MAC address '00:50:56:##:##:#3'
  [<timestamps> UTC:                 AdapterConfig:   WARN] Can't get adapter name for MAC '00:50:56:##:##:#3'
  [<timestamps> UTC:                 AdapterConfig:  DEBUG] Adapter name: ''
  [<timestamps> UTC: ExtendedWinCustomizationLogic:  DEBUG] All NICs are not ready yet. Will try again after 10000 milliseconds
  [<timestamps> UTC: ExtendedWinCustomizationLogic:  DEBUG] NICs are ready: false
  [<timestamps> UTC:                              :  ERROR] NICs are not ready

• vCenter </var/log/vmware/vpxd/vpxd.log> shows:
  

  <timestamps> UTC info vpxd[2270999] [Originator@6876 sub=InvtId opID=TxId: ########-####-####-####-############-##-##-69181a6b] VM <vm_name> has conflict mac [00:50:56:##:##:#3] with existing VM <vm_name>, new mac [0:50:56:##:##:#6].

Environment

VMware HCX

Cause

• When vCenter is creating the "placeholder" VM on 'target' side it detects the MAC conflict and changes to new auto generated MAC.
• Guest customization script fails to apply guest-customization config as it could not find an adapter with original MAC.

Resolution

• Do not use the "retain MAC" option when using the same vCenter for both source/target HCX Managers.
• Due to using the same vCenter for both source/target HCX Manager deployments - the "retain MAC" option should not be selected for HCX Bulk Migrations needing Guest Customizations. 
• This is due to not being able to run 2 VMs with the same MAC in same VC inventory.