Recurring hourly task failures for "Imported Virtual Application Discovered" in VMware Cloud Director

Products

• VMware Cloud Director

Issue/Introduction

• In the VMware Cloud Director (VCD) console, tasks named "Imported Virtual Application Discovered {vm-name}" fail repeatedly every hour.
• The task details show the following error:
  The following IP/MAC addresses have already been used by running virtual machines: MAC addresses: xx:xx:xx:xx:xx IP addresses: xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx Use the Fence vApp option to use same MAC/IP. Fencing allows identical virtual machines in different vApps to be powered on without conflict, by isolating the MAC and IP address of the virtual machine.
• Non-VCD managed virtual machines are located within a Resource Pool that is managed by VCD.

Environment

VMware Cloud DIrector 10.x

Cause

This issue occurs due to the "VM Discovery" feature in VMware Cloud Director.

By default, VCD scans the underlying vCenter Server Resource Pools backing the Organization VDCs.
If it finds a virtual machine that is not registered in the VCD inventory, it automatically attempts to import it.
In this scenario, the import fails because the discovered VM is using a MAC or IP address that is already assigned to an existing VM within VCD, leading to a conflict.

Resolution

To resolve this issue, consider one of the following three options:

1. Move or Delete the Discovered VM
   If the VM does not need to be managed by VCD, delete the virtual machine from vCenter Server or move it to a location (folder/resource pool) that is outside of the VCD-managed inventory.
   This will stop VCD from attempting to discover it.
   
   
2. Disable the "VM Discovery" Feature
   You can disable the automatic discovery and adoption of VMs. For detailed instructions on how to manage this setting via API or UI, please refer to the official documentation:
   Discovering and Adopting VMs in VMware Cloud Director
   
   
3. Resolve MAC/IP Address Conflicts
   Change the MAC address or IP address of either the discovered VM or the conflicting VM already managed within VCD.
   Once the duplication is resolved, the discovery task will be able to complete successfully.

Additional Information

Related Links:

"The following IP/MAC addresses have already been used by running virtual machines: MAC addresses" error when powering on a virtual machine in VMware Cloud Director

Debugging vCenter VM Discovery in VMware Cloud Director