OVA import failing
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@tofaz and in XOA? I'd like to find where is the issue.
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@olivierlambert in XOA 5.59.0 stable the import works without issues
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And in latest, does it work?
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XOA channel latest (5.60.0) reported the same issue as XO 5.60.0. So it looks like its a XOA issue appeared in latest version.
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@olivierlambert Same as the one mentioned by the OP: Error: buffer grain directory address is too short, expecting 8 minimum, got 0
Thank you!
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Hi Tofaz,
would you be able to transfer me the failing file please?
Thanks,
Nicolas.
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@nraynaud Since my original VM had some confidential data I have created a new VM test in order to reproduce the issue. Well with this VM the problem does not occur even with XO 5.60. The only differences that I can think at the moment are Windows (before Windows Server 2019 and now Windows 10 pro) and the VMtools (before with tools and now without tools).
I will run more test and let you know.
Thank you!
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@tofaz Thank you, it's really hard to find the bug without a reliable reproduction. Even for simple bugs.
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@nraynaud I sent you the link of the VM via PM. It looks like the web interface is not complaining but then the VM is not able to find a bootable hard disk upon start.
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@tofaz thanks, I'll have a look at it.
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@tofaz I don't see the parsing problem with the .ova file you sent me.
I have another test you could try: extract the .vmdk file from the ova, and try importing the disk itself, you should get the same error since it's the same .vmdk parser.
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I was having this problem too. I used OVFTool 4.3.0 to export a VM to ova. I am not sure if it's just coincidence or not, but the first ova imported fine using sources.
However, I exported two more VMs using a different machine and I received the same error. I used XO from quick deploy on the main screen. Both of the VMs imported fine using the quick deploy. This was on a fresh install last week. (My First Time Using XCP-ng)
The first VM was smaller than the other two. It was exported out on a Windows 10 machine. The other two VMs were on a Windows Server 2012R2 machine.
I am sure other people have done this before as well, but I used Veeam Agent to import most of my larger VMs. I booted off the ISO and restored from my backups and had little problems with getting the machines to work. The only thing I changed was the NIC type to an intel because I wasn't getting gigabit speeds during the restore.
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I am having an identical problem. The error message is the same as stated right at the start. It is made up of English words but makes no sense at all.
I have the appliance with latest stable and I have also built the latest available from sources and both fail identically.
I have previously imported another VM from ESXi 5.5 without problem. This .ova is just about 50 GB.
Maybe, just as a clue, someone could tell me, or us, what the error message is actually complaining about. I live in Texas so I am familiar with grain silos, but I don't recall ever having heard of a grain directory, and I certainly would have given it 8 had I known what it was looking for.
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@nraynaud I have imported the .vmdk file of the VM that I have sent you and it completed fine.
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@martinhorton Haha, sorry, it's the VMDK parser.
OVA files are a tar files containing an XML file (.ovf) that describes the VM and .vmdk files that representing the disks. The VMDK file format uses a specific vocabulary, and each block of data is called a "grain" and there is a table that contains all the addresses of the "grains". The parser couldn't find it.
Can someone please send me a .ova file that triggers this error? I really need to trigger it on my machine to fix it.
thanks,
Nicolas.
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@nraynaud OK, I've just woken up and read your message. Based on the message I am going to add the following information that now seems relevant. This VM, prior to being exported had a disk removed but not deleted from disk. My guess, and of course, it's only a guess, is that the file is listed in the XML file as part of the VM but in reality isn't there because the file was deleted.
I am going to remove the file from the directory and save it somewhere else and then re-export it and see if it works.
But now I will repeat my little mantra that I used to lecture people with as a software developer for decades. Make your error messages meaningful. Had this error message said "Hard disk 2 listed in inventory but file not found" I am guessing it would have triggered a memory in me or anyone else. My favorite pet peeve is the error message "File was not found". That means nothing; the message 'File abc.docx not found in directory C:\somedirectory" is a lot more meaningful.
I'll report back on the success or otherwise of my test.
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@nraynaud I tried that, it didn't work
I am uploading the .ovf file
W2K12Full.ovf.txt -
@nraynaud I unfortunately deleted my ova files. However, I still have the esxi server. I am exporting a new ova now. If I can get the error to happen for me again I will send you a link to download the ova file.
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@cbritton thank you, that would be great.
I really want everybody here know that I believe there is a bug in my code, it's just that I really need help reproducing on my machine to pinpoint it.
