Finding and Unprotecting Unused View Composer Replicas

Under certain conditions, View Composer replicas might remain in vCenter Server when they no longer have any linked clones associated with them.

Problem

An unused replica remains in a vCenter Server folder. You are unable to remove the replica by using vSphere Client.

Cause

Network outages during View Composer operations, or removing the associated linked clones directly from vSphere without using the proper View commands, might leave an unused replica in vCenter Server.

Replicas are protected entities in vCenter Server. They cannot be removed by ordinary vCenter Server or vSphere Client management commands.

Solution

Use the SviConfig FindUnusedReplica command to find the replica in a specified folder. You can use the -Move parameter to move the replica to another folder. The -Move parameter unprotects an unused replica before moving it.

Important: Only experienced View Composer administrators should use the SviConfig utility. This utility is intended to resolve issues relating to the View Composer service.

The SviConfig utility is located with the View Composer application. The default path is C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware View Composer\sviconfig.exe.

Before you begin, verify that no linked clones are associated with the replica.

Familiarize yourself with the SviConfig FindUnusedReplica parameters:

• DsnName. The DSN that must be used to connect to the database.
• UserName. The user name used to connect to the database. If this parameter is not specified, Windows authentication is used.
• Password. The password for the user that connects to the database. If this parameter is not specified and Windows authentication is not used, you are prompted to enter the password later.
• ReplicaFolder. The name of the replica folder. Use an empty string for the root folder. The default value is VMwareViewComposerReplicaFolder.
• UnusedReplicaFolder. The name of the folder to contain all unused replicas. The default value is UnusedViewComposerReplicaFolder. Use this parameter to specify the destination folder when you use the Move parameter.
• OutputDir. The name of the output directory in which the list of unused replicas, stored in the unused-replica-*.txt file, is generated. The default value is the current working directory.
• Move. Determines whether to unprotect unused replica virtual machines and move them to a specified folder. The UnusedReplicaFolder parameter specifies the destination folder. The default value of the Move parameter is false.

The DsnName, Username, and Password parameters are required. The DsnName cannot be an empty string.

Take these steps:

1. Stop the View Composer service.
2. From a Windows command prompt on the View Composer computer, run the SviConfig FindUnusedReplica command in the following form:

   sviconfig -operation=findunusedreplica
             -DsnName=name of the DSN
             -Username=Database administrator username
             -Password=Database administrator password
             [-ReplicaFolder=Replica folder name]
             [-UnusedReplicaFolder=Unused replica folder name.]
             [-OutputDir=Output file directory]
             [-Move=true or false] 
   

   For example:

   sviconfig -operation=FindUnusedReplica -DsnName=SVI
      -Username=SVIUser -Password=1234 -Move=True

3. Restart the View Composer service.
4. (Optional) After the replica is moved to the new folder, remove the replica virtual machine from vCenter Server.