Random Deployment Failure with "Name Already Exists" Error

Products

• VCF Operations/Automation (formerly VMware Aria Suite)

Issue/Introduction

Some VMware Aria Automation (vRA) deployments are intermittently failing with an error indicating that the deployment or machine object already exists, even though a manual check of vCenter Server (VC) shows no duplicate virtual machine.

The key error messages seen in the logs/UI are:

• Error Message: "Name already exists"

• Specific Log/API Errors:

  • Cannot deploy library item [UUID ]

  • com.vmware.vcenter.ovf.ovf_error

  • com.vmware.vdcs.util.duplicate_name

  • com.vmware.automation.vro.gateway.common.StartWorkflowException: Could not execute workflow run. Run with same id [UUID ] or event trace id [UUID] already exists!
Caused by: org.spring

Environment

Aria Automation 

Cause

The issue is caused by a time synchronization issue (time skew) between the multiple Aria Automation (vRA) nodes in the cluster deployment.

• Due to the time skew, different vRA nodes may attempt to initiate the same deployment request for a machine with the same name, leading to a database conflict on the event_trace_entry_id_unique constraint.

• The system incorrectly registers a conflict, even if the machine object is not yet fully created in vCenter.

Resolution

The failures are known to be caused by duplicate initiation due to time skew between the vRA nodes.

Action Steps:

1. Check Time Synchronization: Verify that all Aria Automation (vRA) nodes and the vCenter Server (VC) are in sync with a reliable Network Time Protocol (NTP) source.

   • Command: Use vracli ntp status on the vRA nodes to check the synchronization status.

2. Sync Nodes: If the nodes are not in sync, immediately perform time synchronization on the vRA appliances.

3. Reference Documentation: For detailed steps on enabling and configuring time synchronization for vRA, refer to the official documentation:

• URL: https://techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/vmware-cis/aria/aria-automation/8-18/vmware-aria-automation-on-prem-administering-8-18/maintaining-your-appliance/how-do-i-enable-time-synchronization.html

By ensuring the time is accurately synchronized across all vRA cluster nodes and the vCenter instance, you prevent the scenario where multiple nodes concurrently process the same deployment request (due to a perceived timing difference), eliminating the database-level duplicate key violation and resolving the intermittent "Name already exists" deployment failures.