One of the biggest call drivers within our VMware View support centers revolves around linked clone pools. Some of your users may be calling you to report that their desktop is not available. You begin to check your vCenter and View Administrator portal and discover some of the following symptoms:
- You cannot provision or recompose a linked clone desktop pool
- You see the error:
Desktop Composer Fault: Virtual Machine with Input Specification already exists - Provisioning a linked clone desktop pool fails with the error:
Virtual machine with Input Specification already exists - The Connection Server shows that linked clone virtual machines are stuck in a deleting state
- You cannot delete a pool from the View Administrator page
- You are unable to delete linked clone virtual machines
- When viewing a pools Inventory tab, the status of one or more virtual machines may be shown as missing
There are a number of reasons this might happen, and KB: 2015112 Manually deleting linked clones or stale virtual desktop entries from the View Composer database in VMware View Manager and Horizon View covers resolving this topic comprehensively, but let’s discuss a bit of the background around these issues.
When a linked clone pool is created or modified, several backend databases are updated with configuration data. First there is the SQL database supporting vCenter Server, next there is the View Composer database, and thirdly the ADAM database. Let’s also throw in Active Directory for good measure. With all of these pieces each playing a vital role in the environment, it becomes apparent that should things go wrong, there may be an inconsistency created between these databases. These inconsistencies can present themselves with the above symptoms.
Recently a new Fling was created to address these inconsistencies. If you’re not acquainted with Flings, they’re tools our engineers build to help you explore and manipulate your systems. However, it’s important to remember they come with a disclaimer:
“I have read and agree to the Technical Preview Agreement. I also understand that Flings are experimental and should not be run on production systems.”
If you’re just in your lab environment though, they are an excellent way to learn and understand the workings of your systems at a deeper level. Here is the Fling: ViewDbChk. For production systems we recommend following the tried and true procedures documented in KB 2015112. The KB includes embedded videos to help walk you through the steps.