Hi. I'm trying to  deploy an OVF template using Vsphere 4.1 client but it keeps failing with syntax errors. The OVF is supplied with an IBM product I've trying to install but there's something it doesn't like relating to the ValueMap section which is a single line in the OVF file. Any ideas what's wrong with it? Thx

<ovf:Property ibmExt:invisible="true" ovf:key="language" ovf:password="false" ovf:qualifiers="[ValueMap {&quot;en&quot;,&quot;de&quot;,&quot;ja&quot;,&quot;ko&quot;,&quot;zh&quot;,&quot;zh(tw)&quot;,&quot;fr&quot;,&quot;it&quot;,&quot;es&quot;,&quot;pt(br)&quot;}]" ovf:type="string" ovf:userConfigurable="true" ovf:value="en" ovf:required="true">
          <ovf:Label ovf:msgid="ConfigLocale.language.label">Default Locale</ovf:Label>
          <ovf:Description ovf:msgid="ConfigLocale.language.description">This is the default locale of the Operating System and TSAM</ovf:Description>
        </ovf:Property>

Hi,

I have an OVF file that refeneces a disk image from a webserver, e.g.:

<File ovf:href="http://myserver/cdrom.iso" ovf:id="file1"/>

When i try to deploy this OVF to a vSphere server, it fails at the disk transfer stage... it looks to me like ovftool is treating it like a local file:

$ ovftool my.ovf vi://root:@172.26.0.172

Opening OVF source: my.ovf

Warning: No manifest file

Opening VI target: vi://root@172.26.0.172:443/

Deploying to VI: vi://root@172.26.0.172:443/

Disk Transfer Failed

Error: Failed to open file: cdrom.iso

Here is the output with logging enabled:

When an OVF is deployed from a local file, does it mean the references also need to be local? I had a quick read of the OVF spec and it seems like file reference can be anywhere... local, relative, http or https... any ideas?

Hello all,

I have a linux VM on a remote ESXi 5 host that I have installed OVFtool.  That same linux vm has a local "win2k8.ova" ova file.  Here is the command i'm trying to use:

ovftool -ds=DS1 -n=MSRVR01 win2k8.ova vi://root:password@172.16.100.20

and get the following message:

Error: Found wrong kind of object (ResourcePool). Possible completions are:

But this is a single ESXi host without any ResourcePools.  How do i get around this?

Thanks,

Nick

Running OVF Tool 3.0.1 on 32 bit CentOS 6 Linux 2.6.32-279.11.1.el6.i686 (download from VMWare site md5sum was checked ok)

Tool starts up fine and is in the process of exporting a VM from one ESXi 4.1 host to another ESXi 4.1 host . 

Tool then crashes with /usr/bin/ovftool: line 23:  7629 Segmentation fault      (core dumped) "$OVFTOOL_BIN" "$@"

I am trying to convert a .ovf to a .vmx using the ovftool utility in terminal on OSX 10.6.8.

USING the --lax command, the result I get is as follows:

Any suggestions on how to fix this?  It seems to be a problem with ovftool itself?

HI,

I'm trying to create an OVF using ovftool 3.0.1. When I issue the ovftool command from the command line I get:

Error: cURL error: Couldn't connect to server
Completed with errors

I used the following command:

/usr/bin/ovftool vi://username:password@XX.XX.XX.XX/datacenter/vm/folder/vmname /destination

I can issue the command as above without the vmname to see if I can access Vsphere and to make sure I have a valid source locator.  The command is successful and returns a list of VMs I can use. When I add the VM name to the source locator path, I get the above error. The VM is pysically about 14GB in size (that is the space alloacted).

I can use the same command to another Vpshere server and I'm successful in creating the OVF. Which leads me to think that it might be a configuration issue with this Vsphere server?

What sorts of issues can lead to the above error?

Thanks,

Fernando

I have a Linux VM running on fusion, and using ovftool to convert this .vmx into .ovf, then import into a ESXi 5...unfortunately having this error message.

I tried the -lax option, but doesn't help...I look into the ovf file, and found it could be this section issue

    <vmw:BootOrderSection vmw:instanceId="7" vmw:type="disk">

      <Info>Virtual hardware device boot order</Info>

    </vmw:BootOrderSection>

Anyone can share me some light to get around this...thanks

Hi,

I'm trying to convert VM into ovf. But ovftool fails with the message:

./ovftool --powerOffSource vi://administrator:xxxxx@host/?ip=192.168.1.22 myovf.ovf
Opening VI source: vi://administrator@host/
Powering off VM: 0593498732-VM_Name
Error: File sanfs://vmfs_uuid:3c3693e8-f77a642a-1910-5c6bdcb26d3a/packages/4.1.0/vmtools/linux.iso was not found

Could you please help me with the issue above?

Thanks,

Hello, I'm having some trouble getting both the vSphere Client and ovftool to

import my OVF's.  When using the vSphere Client, I successfully walk through

the wizard to "Deploy OVF Template", I click Finish on the final wizard screen

and progress dialog pops up.  It counts up to 100% complete while showing

"Deploying disk 1 of 1..." and then always fails with the following error

displayed on a popup window:

"Failed to deploy OVF package: The remote server returned an error: (500)

Internal Server Error"

I then tried using ovftool, to convert my OVF to VMX format.  Similarly, the

"Disk Progress" percentage counts up to 100% and then errors with:

Opening OVF source: stout-1-x86_64.ovf

Warning: No manifest file

Opening VMX target: stout-out/

Target: stout-out/stout-1-x86_64/stout-1-x86_64.vmx

Disk Transfer Failed           

Error: Failed to open source disk: stout-1-x86_64.vmdk

In both cases, it seems the problem is with my disk file, which is a

stream optimized VMDK.  Just to check, I verified that I was able to import

this exact same disk file built into an OVF 0.9 using Virtual Infrastructure

Client 2.5.0.  So, I'm at a loss as to what the problem may be.  Do you have

to build the stream optimized vmdk any differently?  Any other suggestions on

how I may be able to debug this further?

Thanks for any help,

James Slagle

I'm trying to deploy one ovf file to my ESX 4.0

ovftool -v

VMware ovftool 1.0.0 (build-166674)

following is my command line.

ovftool --powerOffTarget --powerOn --overwrite=true --datastore=storage1 --name=base1 /NSN/Virtual_Machines/BASE/latest/Base.ovf vi://Administrator:pass@10.32.230.100/project/host/projectbld/

the result is:

Opening OVF source: /NSN/Virtual_Machines/BASE/latest/Base.ovf

Opening VI target: vi://Administrator@10.32.230.100/project/host/projectbld/

Target: vi://10.32.230.100/project/host/projectbld/

Disk Transfer Failed           

Error: IO error

I can see base1 directory generated on ESX projectbld on storage1 , and some zero size are created , too

and I can also see  "Deploy OVF template" on my vSphere Client.

but the progress on vSphere Client will be the task was canceled by a user.

and ovftool fail.

who can tell me what's going wrong? or where is the log to investgate on both ESX and ovftool host?

Hi I'm wondering if there is an automation tool/command(s) that will allow us (team of developers) to import/use a .iso file that contains 64bit OS and pass it through VMware ESXi or Server and then export it to OVF/OVA?

Is it possible? Can it be done?

Your answers will be very apreciated, many thanks!

Hi,

Am I the only one that gets about 10Mbps (Megabits/second), or about 1MB/sec (megabyte/sec) throughput when using the ovftool to import a VM on a 1Gbps LAN?  I would assume there is some type of throttle on the service console network interface, even though I haven't found any evidence from the forums that indicates this is true.  It's just a little strange that we're getting "exactly" 10Mbps.  This happens on multiple vCenter servers and ESX clusters so I'm assuming it's a throttle.  From the one machine I run the ovftool from, I can import to 2 different clusters and get 20Mbps (10Mbps on each).

This is on vCenter 4.0 Update 2 and ESX 4.0 Update 2 (not ESXi) as well as 4.1 versions of these.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

Eric

I hope somone can help me but I did a quick search but nothing came  about the difference between these two tools: ovftool and vmware studio. I have a VM with a guest OS and a custom application that was built that I want to distribute freely. Which tool is the best tool to do this? I have VM Studio installed however I have read ovftool also does a good job. What is the best approach in packaging a Virtual Appliance(pre-config VM with guestOS with an application) as an ovf that can be used by anyone freely on most virtual software? I hope I didnt confuse anyone. In advance, thanks for the help.

Hello, I'm trying to export a VM as an OVA from an ESXi 4.0 host through our vCenter Server again version 4.0. At present my command looks like this:

ovftool.exe vi://<IP Address>/< Datacenter>/vm/<Folder Name>/<Folder Name>/<Folder Name> C:/<Path To OVA Store>/<VM Name.OVA>

The final folder name given above is the location of the VMX / VMDK files for the VM. I'm using version 2.1.0-467744-win-i386 of the ovftool from a Windows XP VM running SP3.

Issuing the above command appears to kick off the ova export process but it quickly dies and returns my prompt. The only output after issuing the command is a request for a username and password which I supply followed by the words "Opening VI source".

Any ideas where I'm going wrong?

Was giving an SSL error, now giving a connecgt error. No firewall involved. I wonder Windows does not have ssh, so, why is vConverter using ssh.

Any help much appreciated.

I'm getting wildly different results while importing large OVF file into vCloud Director 1.0.1 via the ovftool than when performing the upload of the same OVF via the native JAva tool within vCloud Director itself. AS long as the file transfer compeltes through the vCD Java tool, the file is importing into vCenter correctly, and then being correctly registered within vCD.

The OVF I'm working with is 68.2 GB in size.

Below is a sanatized version of my command line and the output from the tool:

ovftool --net:"dvportgroup-48=company-Services_Internal" E:\OlioWebtest\oliowebtest.ovf "vcloud://user:password@testvcd1.company.com:443/?org=company_Services&vapp=OlioWebTest&vdc=company_Services_ALLO_vDC01&catalog=test"
Opening OVF source: E:\OlioWebtest\oliowebtest.ovf
The manifest validates
Warning: File is not referred in the manifest: oliowebtest.ovf
Opening vCloud target: vcloud://user@testvcd1.company.com:443/
Waiting for task on server .done
Deploying to vCloud: vcloud://user@testvcd1.company.com:443/
Disk Transfer Completed

Error: Invalid response from server
Completed with errors

Looking in the vCD GUI logs for the organization, I see the descriptor being processed, and the process for finalizing the upload completing, but the vApp is never added to the catalog. If I look in vCenter, I can find the VM on a valdi datastore for the org vDC and the correct resource pool in the proper state for a catalog vApp. The error "Error: Invalid response from server" is displayed immediately upon completion of the data transfer.

If I move the VM to the root of the datacenter, I can import the VM as a vApp and copy it to the caalog with no issue.

I tested with a much smaller OVF (1.3 GB), and received exactly the behavior I expected.

ovftool --net:"none=company-Services_Internal" E:\suse\descriptor.ovf "vcloud://user:password@testvcd1.company.com:443/?org=company_Services&vapp=SUSE32&vdc=company_Services_ALLO_vDC01&catalog=test"
Opening OVF source: E:\suse\descriptor.ovf
Warning: No manifest file
Opening vCloud target: vcloud://user@testvcd1.company.com:443/
Waiting for task on server .done
Deploying to vCloud: vcloud://user@testvcd1.company.com:443/
Disk Transfer Completed

Waiting for task on server ...................done
Waiting for task on server .......................................done
Waiting for task on server ..done
Completed successfully

Looking at the succesful transfer, I see an additonal action logged in the GUI logs for the organization. After the finalization record, there is a "Create virtual application" event logged on the smaller transfer that is never logged on the larger transfer.

The only item I can think of from a vCloud Director standpoint is that that vCD logon sesion timeout has expired on the large transfer long before the additional tasks are issued to vCD resulting in the invalid response. Is this the case, or is something else going on?

When looking at the vcloud-container-info.log file on the cells doing the processing for the succesful imports, I see a whole string of commands being executed in the current logged on user context.

I have an OVF with an ovf:qualifiers ValueMap drop down list of strings.

I would like to map the selected string into some other values either int or string will do.

I saw in the DSP0004 Version 2.5.0 "Common Information Model (CIM) Infrastructure" document; an example in Section 5.5.2.51 ~pg 47

This example appears to do what I want, map the ValueMap list to the Values list.

BUT I can not make it work.

Here is the example text:

[Values {"zero&one", "2to40", "fifty", "the unclaimed", "128-255"}, ValueMap {"..1","2..40" "50", "..", "x80.." }]

The document implies that picking a value in the ValueMap will set the property to the coresponding value in the Values list

I get syntax errors when I use vSphere to deploy the OVF

ovf:qualifiers=[Values{...}, ValueMap{...}]

error expect ' or "

ovf:qualifiers='[Values{...}, ValueMap{...}]'

ovf:qualifiers='Values{...}, ValueMap{...}'

more syntax errors

ovf:qualifiers='ValueMap{...}, Values{...}'

The above does not have errors, but it ignores my ovf:userConfigurable="true" so there is no selection and the value is not mapped.

Without the Values{} list, the drop down list is user selectable and the property is a string from the ValueMap list.

I have been given an externally generated OVF that the ovftool verifies as perfectly fine and shows me that there are End-user license agreements.  However, when I use vCenter (4 and 5) to Deploy OVF Template, the EULA page does not show any text when displaying the license and asking me to Accept.   After various comparisons with other OVFs and manipulation of the original OVF, I have determined that the vCenter deploy is having trouble when the OVF contains the ovf: prefix on certain XML elements.

For example, the OVF that does not work has the ovf: prefix on all elements (<ovf:Envelope>, <ovf:References>, <ovf:File>, <ovf:Strings>) and also has the ovf: prefix on the Internationalization file (ovf:Strings, ovf:Msg).   This does not show errors in the ovftool, but the license text does not display during vCenter OVF deploy.

If I hand edit the OVF and remove the ovf: prefix on the elements listed above, the ovftool shows no errors and the license text now shows up during vCenter OVF deploy!

Is this a bug in vCenter Deploy OVF Template?

Thanks.

Hello all,

I am having a problem with the ovftool.

Here's what i did.

1)I created a VM running CentOS.

2)These are the 3 files that i got.

Test.vmx

Test.vmdk (Descriptor File)

# Disk DescriptorFile

version=1

CID=5046e880

parentCID=ffffffff

createType="vmfsPreallocated"

# Extent description

RW 83886080 VMFS "Test-flat.vmdk" 0

# The Disk Data Base

#DDB

ddb.virtualHWVersion = "4"

ddb.geometry.cylinders = "83220"

ddb.geometry.heads = "16"

ddb.geometry.sectors = "63"

ddb.adapterType = "lsilogic"

Test-flat.vmdk

3) This is the command that i ran

ovftool "Test.vmx" "Test_New.ova"

Please help!

Thank you

I give; I have spent too long attempting to find the magic decoder ring to get ovftool to do what I expect to be a very basic use case.

My vCenter server is win2k8 R2 node, my host node is RHEL6.3, and my guest in this case is CentOS6.3.

The vCenter server FQDN is vsphere2.foo.com.

The ESX host is las13.foo.com.

The guest is qavm1.foo.com

The Datacenter name is screwy, but appears to be passable with URI character replacements.  The name is "Foo / Bar Network" so I have been using "Foo %2f Bar Network" and quoting any URL string to deal with the spaces.

Examining the Datacenter layout in vCenter client, the path to the vm from which I want to create an OVA is

Foo / Bar Network/QA Guy/las13.foo.com/qavm1

attempting to use ovftool from either the Win2k8 server or my RHEL6.4 development machine results in the same errors.  I have perturbed the syntax of options and paths in so many ways I don't want to list them all here, but the end result is always an incorrect reference or missing object.

Might I grovel for the proper syntax to store a VM guest as an OVA?

Yes...I have devoured the manual mutiple times over...RTFM is my first tenet

Thank you all!

[root@qavm34 tmp]# ovftool --sourcetype=vmx "vi://administrator@vsphere2.foo.com/Foo %2f Bar Network/host/las13.foo.com"

Error: Unknown option: 'sourcetype'

Completed with errors

[root@qavm34 tmp]# ovftool --sourceType=vmx "vi://administrator@vsphere2.foo.com/Foo %2f Bar Network/host/las13.foo.com"

Error: Failed to open file: vi://administrator@vsphere2.foo.com/Foo %2f Bar Network/host/las13.foo.com

[root@qavm34 tmp]# ovftool --sourceType=vmx "vi://administrator@vsphere2.foo.com/Foo %2f Bar Network/host/las13.foo.com/qavm1"

Error: Failed to open file: vi://administrator@vsphere2.foo.com/Foo %2f Bar Network/host/las13.foo.com/qavm1

[root@qavm34 tmp]# ovftool --sourceType=VI "vi://administrator@vsphere2.foo.com/Foo %2f Bar Network/host/las13.foo.com/qavm1"

Please enter login information for source vi://vsphere2.foo.com/

Username: administrator

Password: **********

Error: Locator does not refer to an object: vi://administrator@vsphere2.foo.com:443/Foo / Bar Network/host/las13.foo.com/qavm1

[root@qavm34 tmp]# ovftool --sourceType=VI "vi://administrator@vsphere2.foo.com/Foo %2f Bar Network/host/las13.foo.com"

Please enter login information for source vi://vsphere2.foo.com/

Username: administrator

Password: *********

Error: Locator does not refer to an object: vi://administrator@vsphere2.foo.com:443/Foo / Bar Network/host/las13.foo.com

[root@qavm34 tmp]# ovftool --sourceType=VI "vi://Administrator@vsphere2.foo.com/Foo %2f Bar Network/host/"

Please enter login information for source vi://vsphere2.foo.com/

Username: Administrator

Password: **********

Error: Locator does not refer to an object: vi://Administrator@vsphere2.foo.com:443/Foo / Bar Network/host/

[root@qavm34 tmp]# ovftool --sourceType=VI "vi://Administrator@vsphere2.foo.com/Foo %2f Bar Network/host"

Please enter login information for source vi://vsphere2.foo.com/

Username: Administrator

Password: **********

Error: Locator does not refer to an object: vi://Administrator@vsphere2.foo.com:443/Foo / Bar Network/host

[root@qavm34 tmp]#

[root@qavm34 tmp]#

[root@qavm34 tmp]#

[root@qavm34 tmp]# ovftool --sourceType=VI "vi://Administrator@vsphere2.foo.com/Foo %2f Bar Network"

Please enter login information for source vi://vsphere2.foo.com/

Username: Administrator

Password: **********

Error: Found wrong kind of object (Datacenter). Possible completions are:

  vm/

  host/

[root@qavm34 tmp]# ovftool --sourceType=VI "vi://Administrator@vsphere2.foo.com/Foo %2f Bar Network/vm/qavm1"

Please enter login information for source vi://vsphere2.foo.com/

Username: Administrator

Password: **********

Error: Locator does not refer to an object: vi://Administrator@vsphere2.foo.com:443/Foo / Bar Network/vm/qavm1

[root@qavm34 tmp]# ovftool --sourceType=VI "vi://Administrator@vsphere2.foo.com/Foo %2f Bar Network/vm/QA Guy/qavm1"

Please enter login information for source vi://vsphere2.foo.com/

Username: Administrator

Password: **********

Error: Locator does not refer to an object: vi://Administrator@vsphere2.foo.com:443/Foo / Bar Network/vm/QA Guy/qavm1

[root@qavm34 tmp]# ovftool --sourceType=VI "vi://Administrator@vsphere2.foo.com?moref=vim.vm.VirtualMachine:qavm1"

Please enter login information for source vi://vsphere2.foo.com/

Username: Administrator

Password: **********

Error: Invalid object type specified (not a ManagedEntity subtype)

[root@qavm34 tmp]# ovftool "vi://Administrator@vsphere2.foo.com?moref=vim.vm.VirtualMachine:qavm1"

Please enter login information for source vi://vsphere2.foo.com/

Username: Administrator

Password: **********

Error: Invalid object type specified (not a ManagedEntity subtype)

[root@qavm34 tmp]# ovftool "vi://Administrator@vsphere2.foo.com/Foo %2f Bar Network/host/las13.foo.com"

Please enter login information for source vi://vsphere2.foo.com/

Username: Administrator

Password: **********

Error: Locator does not refer to an object: vi://Administrator@vsphere2.foo.com:443/Foo / Bar Network/host/las13.foo.com

[root@qavm34 tmp]# ovftool "vi://Administrator@vsphere2.foo.com/Foo %2f Bar Network?ds=[EqualLogic] qavm1/qavm1.vmx"

Please enter login information for source vi://vsphere2.foo.com/

Username: Administrator

Password: *********

Please enter login information for source vi://vsphere2.foo.com/

Username: Administrator

Password: **********

Error: Locator does not refer to an object: vi://Administrator@vsphere2.foo.com:443/Foo %2f Bar Network?ds=[EqualLogic]%20qavm1/qavm1.vmx

[root@qavm34 tmp]# ovftool --version

VMware ovftool 3.0.1 (build-801290)

[root@qavm34 tmp]#