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    OVA import failing

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Xen Orchestra
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    • olivierlambertO Offline
      olivierlambert Vates 🪐 Co-Founder CEO
      last edited by

      And in latest, does it work?

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      • T Offline
        tofaz
        last edited by

        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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        • olivierlambertO Offline
          olivierlambert Vates 🪐 Co-Founder CEO
          last edited by

          Do you have an error message @tofaz ?

          Okay, ping @julien-f and @nraynaud

          Any idea why OVA fails on latest?

          T 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • T Offline
            tofaz @olivierlambert
            last edited by

            @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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            • nraynaudN Offline
              nraynaud XCP-ng Team
              last edited by

              Hi Tofaz,

              would you be able to transfer me the failing file please?

              Thanks,

              Nicolas.

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              • T Offline
                tofaz @nraynaud
                last edited by tofaz

                @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!

                nraynaudN 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • nraynaudN Offline
                  nraynaud XCP-ng Team @tofaz
                  last edited by

                  @tofaz Thank you, it's really hard to find the bug without a reliable reproduction. Even for simple bugs.

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                  • T Offline
                    tofaz @nraynaud
                    last edited by

                    @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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                    • nraynaudN Offline
                      nraynaud XCP-ng Team
                      last edited by

                      @tofaz thanks, I'll have a look at it.

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                      • nraynaudN Offline
                        nraynaud XCP-ng Team
                        last edited by

                        @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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                        • C Offline
                          cbritton
                          last edited by cbritton

                          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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                          • M Offline
                            martinhorton
                            last edited by

                            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.

                            nraynaudN 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • T Offline
                              tofaz @nraynaud
                              last edited by

                              @nraynaud I have imported the .vmdk file of the VM that I have sent you and it completed fine.

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                              • nraynaudN Offline
                                nraynaud XCP-ng Team @martinhorton
                                last edited by

                                @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.

                                M 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • M Offline
                                  martinhorton @nraynaud
                                  last edited by

                                  @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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                                  • M Offline
                                    martinhorton @nraynaud
                                    last edited by martinhorton

                                    @nraynaud I tried that, it didn't work

                                    I am uploading the .ovf file
                                    W2K12Full.ovf.txt

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                                    • C Offline
                                      cbritton
                                      last edited by

                                      @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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                                      • nraynaudN Offline
                                        nraynaud XCP-ng Team
                                        last edited by

                                        @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.

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                                        • nraynaudN Offline
                                          nraynaud XCP-ng Team
                                          last edited by

                                          @cbritton privately sent me a file that exhibit the error, many thanks. I am searching for the bug now.

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                                          • nraynaudN Offline
                                            nraynaud XCP-ng Team
                                            last edited by

                                            you can follow the bug fix here: https://github.com/vatesfr/xen-orchestra/pull/5129

                                            nraynaud opened this pull request in vatesfr/xen-orchestra

                                            closed fix(import/OVA): fix big size parsing in OVA files #5129

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