OVA import failing
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To answer your other question. Yes, the original OVA that failed to import with XO managed to import correctly with XOA. It has now finished its import process and appears to have completed the full import process correctly.
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Release channels are only available on XOA (in XOA left menu entry, there's a "card" Release Channel): see https://xen-orchestra.com/docs/updater.html#release-channel
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I confirm the same exact issue here using XO 5.60.0 from source with an .ova file of 10GB. If I import the file using XOA 5.59.0 stable it works without issues.
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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.
