Duplicate virtual machines can appear in the list of protected systems when the same name is used more than once (for example, vm_name and vm_name_1). You can merge these entries to remove the duplicates.
Consider the following scenarios that can lead to duplicate virtual machines or impact backup data:
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UUID Changes: When a virtual machine's UUID changes, the system assigns a new VM GUID. As a result, previous backup jobs are treated as belonging to a different VM and are converted to full backups.
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Automatic Merging: If the system automatically merges duplicate entries, it can affect existing backups—especially the way retention policies are applied.
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Data Aging: With cycle-based retention enabled, older backup jobs may be aged out after a merge, based on the storage policy’s retention settings.
The following instances can create duplicate virtual machines with a numeric suffix (e.g., vm_name_1) in the list of protected systems.
- A virtual machine is restored out of place and backed up again while the original VM still exists.
- A short hostname is used instead of the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) to identify the VM.