Troubleshooting "Importing VM OVF ... vmdk is in error state"

[adeturner]

Hi,
I'm wondering if there are ideas on how to troubleshoot this error.

==> vsphere-iso.linux-ubuntu: Failed to import template linux-ubuntu-22.04-lts-feature/vmware-packer2: deploy error: Unexpected error: Library item file linux-ubuntu-22.04-lts-feature_vmware-packer2-1.vmdk is in error state.

I'm running the ubuntu 2204 build , without the ansible provisoner, and its failing on the OVF upload. The VM seems to shutdown ok, is it a timing thing?

If I manually clone I get

Error importing file linux-ubuntu-22.04-lts-feature_vmware-packer2-1.vmdk. Reason: TransferError (com.vmware.transfer.transfer_error) => { message = Error during transfer of ds:///vmfs/volumes/vsan:520aaf2acbf62483-47396b2d49e55e68/%2F70eaf564-7ee3-626a-3b77-1070fd4af628%2Flinux-ubuntu-22.04-lts-feature%252fvmware-packer2.vmdk: 

File [vsanDatastore] 70eaf564-7ee3-626a-3b77-1070fd4af628/linux-ubuntu-22.04-lts-feature/ was not found, kind = OTHER, peerSslThumbprint = <null>, actualChecksum = <null>, expectedChecksum = <null>, protocolMessage = <null> }.

Unexpected error: Library item file linux-ubuntu-22.04-lts-feature_vmware-packer2-1.vmdk is in error state.

Thanks in advance for any insights.

==> vsphere-iso.linux-ubuntu: Connected to SSH!
2023/09/04 13:48:15 packer-plugin-vsphere_v1.2.1_x5.0_linux_amd64 plugin: 2023/09/04 13:48:15 [INFO] no local agent socket, will not connect agent
2023/09/04 13:48:15 packer-plugin-vsphere_v1.2.1_x5.0_linux_amd64 plugin: 2023/09/04 13:48:15 Running the provision hook
2023/09/04 13:48:15 packer-plugin-vsphere_v1.2.1_x5.0_linux_amd64 plugin: 2023/09/04 13:48:15 Shutdown command: echo '<sensitive>' | sudo -S -E shutdown -P now
2023/09/04 13:48:15 packer-plugin-vsphere_v1.2.1_x5.0_linux_amd64 plugin: 2023/09/04 13:48:15 [DEBUG] Opening new ssh session
==> vsphere-iso.linux-ubuntu: Executing shutdown command...
2023/09/04 13:48:16 packer-plugin-vsphere_v1.2.1_x5.0_linux_amd64 plugin: 2023/09/04 13:48:16 [DEBUG] starting remote command: echo '<sensitive>' | sudo -S -E shutdown -P now
2023/09/04 13:48:16 packer-plugin-vsphere_v1.2.1_x5.0_linux_amd64 plugin: 2023/09/04 13:48:16 Waiting max 15m0s for shutdown to complete
==> vsphere-iso.linux-ubuntu: Deleting Floppy drives...
==> vsphere-iso.linux-ubuntu: Eject CD-ROM drives...
==> vsphere-iso.linux-ubuntu: Deleting CD-ROM drives...
==> vsphere-iso.linux-ubuntu: Clear boot order...
==> vsphere-iso.linux-ubuntu: Built on: 2023-09-04 13:43 UTC
==> vsphere-iso.linux-ubuntu: Importing VM OVF template linux-ubuntu-22.04-lts-feature/vmware-packer2 to Content Library 'CL-packer-images' as the item 'linux-ubuntu-22.04-lts-feature/vmware-packer2' with the description 'Version: feature/vmware-packer2
==> vsphere-iso.linux-ubuntu: Built by: HashiCorp Packer 1.9.4'...
==> vsphere-iso.linux-ubuntu: Built on: 2023-09-04 13:43 UTC
==> vsphere-iso.linux-ubuntu: Built by: HashiCorp Packer 1.9.4'...
==> vsphere-iso.linux-ubuntu: Failed to import template linux-ubuntu-22.04-lts-feature/vmware-packer2: deploy error: Unexpected error: Library item file linux-ubuntu-22.04-lts-feature_vmware-packer2-1.vmdk is in error state.
==> vsphere-iso.linux-ubuntu: Provisioning step had errors: Running the cleanup provisioner, if present...
==> vsphere-iso.linux-ubuntu: Power off VM...
==> vsphere-iso.linux-ubuntu: Destroying VM...
    vsphere-iso.linux-ubuntu: Closing sessions ....
2023/09/04 13:49:59 [INFO] (telemetry) ending vsphere-iso.linux-ubuntu
==> Wait completed after 6 minutes 18 seconds
2023/09/04 13:49:59 machine readable: error-count []string{"1"}
==> Some builds didn't complete successfully and had errors:
2023/09/04 13:49:59 machine readable: vsphere-iso.linux-ubuntu,error []string{"deploy error: Unexpected error: Library item file linux-ubuntu-22.04-lts-feature_vmware-packer2-1.vmdk is in error state."}
==> Builds finished but no artifacts were created.
2023/09/04 13:49:59 [INFO] (telemetry) Finalizing.
Build 'vsphere-iso.linux-ubuntu' errored after 6 minutes 18 seconds: deploy error: Unexpected error: Library item file linux-ubuntu-22.04-lts-feature_vmware-packer2-1.vmdk is in error state.

[adeturner]

Worked it out, the error message was not obvious / misleading. My git branch had a "/" in it, i.e. feature/vmware-packer2. The build name includes the branch... and the downstream implication was vmware doesnt like slashes.

  build_version     = data.git-repository.cwd.head
  
  vm_name             = "${var.vm_guest_os_family}-${var.vm_guest_os_name}-${var.vm_guest_os_version}-${local.build_version}"