Resolve Conflicted Alike SR


Problem: Your A3 SR cannot be plugged into Xen after a reinstallation

Solution: Change the SR uuid to a new ID, preventing conflict

Alternate Solution: See this KB for forcibly unplugging an Alike SR


Xen mounts your Alike SR over NFS based on the IP of your A3. If you reinstalled your A3 or are bringing up a new A3 with the same IP as a previous one, Xen may still "remember" its NFS connection to the old one. Follow this KB for next steps in this case to force Xen to disconnect the NFS share.

Another approach if that does not work is to change the UUID of your Alike SR. This should allow the SR to be plugged by sidestepping the old Alike_SR and has been an effective intervention in many cases where the A3 startup succeeds but the SR never appears in Xen.


Follow these steps to change the Alike SR uuid:

  1. Ensure the A3 container is started. If it cannot be started, try the step above.
  2. Edit a file in the container: sudo nano /var/lib/docker/volumes/alike_instaboot/_data/sr.id
  3. this will open an editor and display the following JSON text:


{"sr-uuid":"646c1f5c-af2f-4c96-b5e0-91c20ee788b9","name":"QS_Alike_SR"}


The 32-character sequence of hex contains your UUID. You can simply change the last digit to something else--any number between 0-9 or any letter between lowercase a-f. Make sure to keep the JSON format by keeping the double-quotes and colons as they are. You may also change "QS_Alike_SR" to "Alike_SR_new" or similar, as this is how it will appear in XenCenter.

After completing this step, save the changes, stop services, and start them again.