> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://platform9.com/kb/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://platform9.com/kb/pcd/generic/500-server-error-when-viewing-vms-across-all-tenants-due-to-co.md).

# No VMs Displayed When 'View VMs in All Tenants' Is Enabled

When the **“View VMs in all Tenants”** option is enabled in the PCD UI, no VMs are displayed, and the associated API call fails with the following error:

```bash
{
    "computeFault": {
        "code": 500,
        "message": "Unexpected API Error. Please report this at http://bugs.launchpad.net/nova/ and attach the Nova API log if possible.<br><class 'KeyError'>"
    }
}
```

Users could search and view specific VMs by name. However, when the **“View VMs in all Tenants”** option is disabled, VMs under the current tenant are displayed correctly.

CLI worked as expected for all-tenant queries (`openstack server list --all-projects`).

## Environment

* Private Cloud Director Virtualization - till 2025.8-92
* Self-Hosted Private Cloud Director Virtualization - till 2025.8-92
* Compute API

## Cause

A corrupted instance remained in the Compute database (nova-DB) due to a failure during VM provisioning (e.g., quota exceeded).

* The instance record was left in an incomplete or `ERROR` state.
* The corresponding request specification was missing from `nova_api.request_specs`.
* When Nova attempted to fetch all VMs across tenants, it raised a `KeyError`, resulting in a `500` error.

This behaviour is noted as PCD-4177 and improvements have been made starting with **v2025.8-112 and above versions.**

## Diagnostics

{% hint style="info" %}
The below 3 commands are applicable only to Self-Hosted PCD-V environments.&#x20;
{% endhint %}

* Error logs from the `nova-api-osapi` pod exposed a `KeyError` involving a specific instance UUID, indicating corruption or missing data for that instance. Example log snippet:

```bash
ERROR nova.api.openstack.wsgi [None [REQ_ID] [CORRUPTED_VM_UUID]- - default default] Unexpected exception in API method: KeyError: '[CORRUPTED_VM_UUID]'
ERROR nova.api.openstack.wsgi KeyError: '[CORRUPTED_VM_UUID]'
<class 'KeyError'>
```

* Checking the `nova` database revealed the corrupted instance still present with `vm_state=error` and `power_state=NOSTATE`.

```bash
MySQL [nova]> select * from instances where uuid="<CORRUPTED_VM_UUID>"\G;
vm_state: error 
power_state: 0 
host: NULL 
availability_zone: [AZ]
display_name: [CORRUPTED_VM_NAME]
```

* Querying the `request_specs` table in the `nova_api` database for the same instance UUID returned **no results**, confirming a missing request spec entry:

```bash
MySQL [nova_api]> select * from request_specs where instance_uuid='<CORRUPTED_VM_UUID>'; 
Empty set (0.001 sec)
```

* Check VM status using below command :

```bash
$ openstack server show <CORRUPTED_VM_UUID> --fit 
| OS-EXT-STS:vm_state   | error                                         | 
| OS-EXT-STS:power_state| NOSTATE                                       | 
| fault                 | {'code': 413, 'message': 'Quota exceeded...'} |
```

* No event history for the VM, which confirms the VM entered the "Error" state during the creation process:

```bash
$ openstack server event list <CORRUPTED_VM_UUID> 
(no events)
```

## Resolution

The corrupted VM deleted using below command:

```bash
openstack server delete <CORRUPTED_VM_UUID>
```

This restored normal functionality for both the UI and the API, allowing full visibility of VMs across tenant boundaries.

## Validation

* Verified UI no longer shows blank list when “**View VMs in All Tenants**” is enabled.
* Cross-tenant VM visibility works as expected.
* No further 500 errors observed in related logs.
* API calls return valid responses without errors.


---

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