Cannot create a new host based on VMware image

Problem:
I get an error “Failed to create a compute <vcenter_fqdn> (VMware) instance <host_fqdn>: templates/pcf-vsphere-2.2-build.316.ova was not found”

Foreman and Proxy versions:
1.18.2

Other relevant data:
I tried some options in “Image path”, but no one attempt was successful.
Screenshots are attached.

Are there any ideas regarding the issue described?

Hi @zinnea

If you use a regular VM template does it work correctly instead of an ova?

Hi @cintrix84,

Thank you for reply!

Yes - I found out provisioning works only with a template taken from a regular VM. Is there a way to create a host from OVF/OVA template?

@zinnea

Currently we have an open RFE for this to be addressed:

https://projects.theforeman.org/issues/14193

It is something that I have on the roadmap but there are some important bug fixes I want to address first to make the user experience better. What I would suggest now is either use normal template provisining or build the host in vCenter then connecting it to Foreman and then on the compute resource page in the compute resource there is an option to associate the VMS so you can control them with Foreman like you would with a host built normally.

I can try to make this a higher priority once I get a few more critical issues fixed or if you want to submit a code change I would be happy to test it as well to help out :slight_smile:

@cintrix84,

Thank you! This feature has no the highest priority for us as well, so I think we’d be appreciated if you could finish it in month :slight_smile: Anyway thanks again for your quick and kind response!

1 Like

By the way, @cintrix84, I’d be appreciated if you could assist with one more question…

I’m using a parameterized VMware template now. That means that user has to provide some parameters when he deploys a vm from the template. However I get a known issue “UncustomizableGuest: Customization of the guest operating system ‘otherGuest’ is not supported in this configuration. Microsoft Vista ™ and Linux guests with Logical Volume Manager are supported only for recent ESX host and VMware Tools versions. Refer to vCenter documentation for supported configurations”.

I also tried to provide the parameters from the specific Foreman fields (“Global Parameters” and "Host Parameters) but got the same result.

So is it possible to work with such kind of templates?

Thanks in advance.

@zinnea Sure :slight_smile:

Let me know if you can see this:

https://access.redhat.com/blogs/1169563/posts/3640721

I am working on getting a version of that for theforeman.org as a blog post. This is covering foreman 1.15.6 so it should work for you. If you cant see it let me know, you can scroll down to the cloud-init parts and skip setting up the install and content views etc since that does not apply.

Let me know if you hit any issues with that but it goes into good detail how to use the params with the images that have userdata in them.

@cintrix84m thank you for reply!

I tried to use the provided templates but got the same error again - always “UncustomizableGuest: Customization of the guest operating system ‘otherGuest’ is not supported in this configuration. Microsoft Vista ™ and Linux guests with Logical Volume Manager are supported only for recent ESX host and VMware Tools versions. Refer to vCenter documentation for supported configurations.”.:disappointed_relieved:

@zinnea

Sure thing, Hopefully we can get this working for you.

Can you email me the template you are using, after taking out any sensitive info like passwords etc.

Also on the machine you are using as a template, can I get a sosreport from it to see a few things regarding open-vm-tools?

My email is chrobert@redhat.com

@zinnea

Did you still need help with this and want me to look at a few things, or did you make progress on it?

Hello @cintrix84,

My apologies for delay in response.

What do you mean under “template” here? .vmdk / .vmtx / .ova file?

Thank you.

@zinnea

No worries on the delay.

For the template, it is the finish/kickstart template in Foreman that is in ERB.