Instant clones creating dns entries itxxxxxxxxxx.

[Yikes1232011101]

I have instant clones setup on Horizon 7.13.1  It is creating a bunch of itxxxxxx entries in dns with an ip address.  Can these be deleted?  It is consuming the ip (dhcp) count and they don't seem to be deleting themselves.  I have scavenging set to 4 days, but nothing seems to happen.  DC is Windows server 2016.

[8islas]

Hi;

You can configure instant-clones to reuse existing AD computer account names.

This option is disabled by default.

Enable this option if you have a limited number of computer accounts to use. When an instant-clone is created, if an existing AD computer account name matches the instant-clone virtual machine name, Horizon uses the existing computer account after resetting the password. Otherwise, a new computer account is created. When the instant clone is deleted, Horizon does not delete the corresponding computer accounts. The existing computer accounts must be located in the Active Directory container that you specify with the AD container setting.

When this option is disabled, a new AD computer account is created when Horizon creates an instant-clone. When the instant-clone is deleted, Horizon deletes the corresponding computer account. If an existing computer account matches the instant-clone virtual machine name, Horizon reuses the existing computer account after resetting the password.

https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-Horizon/2203/virtual-desktops/GUID-C1457161-18F0-486D-B76E-FD604DF...

[Yikes1232011101]

Thanks for the input.  I see 3 computer accounts in AD that are itxxxxxxx (not the name of the actual instant clone vm's), and only one of them is in the DNS.  Ten other itxxxxxx are in DNS, and am wondering if these can be deleted?  I have enabled the use existing accounts and will see what happens too.

[hkraaijeveld]

The DNS entry is created by the Windows OS, since the default setting in Windows is to register itself with the DNS servers, as it should to make itself resolvable in the network infrastructure. Be aware, DNS is not and cannot be managed by VMware Horizon, so VMware Horizon cannot remove DNS entries.

The IT- machine is a linked clone of the master VM, based on the master VM snapshot. This VM is used for the AD domain join and linked to a specific Instant Clone desktop pool.

The instant-clone engine uses the master VM snapshot that you specified to create one internal template VM on the same datastore as the master VM. This internal template VM is linked to the master VM. The internal template VM is used to create the replica VMs. The system performs a domain join on this internal template VM, which ensures that all the proper Windows registry keys and settings are correctly populated. This process involves a reboot. Using this internal template VM for the domain-join process means that the process is performed only once on one VM. Without the internal template VM, the domain-join process would have to be performed on all the replica VMs that are created during the next step of the process. 

If the IT VM no longer exists in your vCenter infrastructure, the DNS entries can obviously be removed and are probably part of a previous desktop pool rollout.