Converter issues with ESXi 6.5 - exporting fails, converter fails

[Pjokela]

Community, be greeted.

A short backstory. I recently converter 120+ VM's from ESXi 4.1 (running clustered with vCenter) to ESXi 6.5 standalone host (standard license).

These conversions were made with vmware converter and all went by with flying colors. Now the issue is that now I'm totally unable to convert anything from the new 6.5 host. This is a must-need-feature as our users constantly move these VM's from the host to their player/workstation infrastructure.

1) First error is with the converter. Some VM's convert okay but most of them give the "Not enough permissions" at 98%

2) Second error is with the export function in ESXi 6.5 (okay, a bit off-topic). Export goes pretty far but eventually gives network/time-out error.

3) Third error is with the newest converter 6.2. This version gives me the "cannot lock disks" error straight up. It doesn't matter, whether I'm using a NFS share or trying to convert to my local disk.

So far, it might have something to do with the ctb being enabled. Permissions should be okay as I'm having the issues with full root permissions.

Any clues to any of the issues mentioned above? All help is highly appreciated. Currently the only option for moving the VM's is through sftp and it doesn't sound like a plan for tomorrow

Cheers,

Pekka

[POCEH]

There is a regression in 6.2 with network paths, so your best solution is to return to previous version.

If errors arrives again, please upload log bundle with failed conversion for investigation.

HTH

[Pjokela]

Thank you Sir. I'll continue testing with the 6.1.1 version of Converter.

So far I've completed to conversions with the older version without any hick-ups.

[Pjokela]

A little update. I'm still getting VM conversions failed at 98% FAILED: An error occurred during the conversion:
'The session does not have the required permissions'

These issues seem to relate machines with ctk-files. We're using Netbackup and I've been testing with Veeam software as well. I read that these ctk-files might relate to backups.

I'm still looking for any tips troubleshooting this issue. As before, all help is appreciated.

[POCEH]

Do you run GUI "as administrator"?

[Pjokela]

Yes, the converter runs "as admin" and I'm connecting to the host with local admin account.

[POCEH]

Originally you wrote "most of them give ..." so which machines are passed? Is there difference between passed and not-passed VMs?

[Pjokela]

So far it seems that VM's without -ctk.vmkdk files are converted correctly. All the machines (fo far) with ctk-files are giving the permissions error at 98%.

[POCEH]

This is very interesting case, could you upload log-budle with failed conversion?

[Pjokela]

What logs do you need? VMware-converter-worker?

[POCEH]

Yes, the ESX logs is also valuable.

[Pjokela]

Here's the worker log. I'll check the ESX logs as well.

[POCEH]

The exact error is:

2018-03-02T10:50:05.826+02:00 warning vmware-converter-worker[01084] [Originator@6876 sub=Default] [,0] [NFC ERROR] Nfc_GetFile: Failed to get block track file '[SAS_LUN1] New Delhi - SC1.6 Standalone\New Delhi - SC1.6 Standalone-ctk.vmdk': 11

are you log in ESX as root? is not try to log as root.

[POCEH]

Could you explain in more details situation with CBT enablement? Your workflow for backup/restore VMs.

Converter is not compatible with CBT especially if it enforced (somehow) in destination VM.

[Pjokela]

Honestly I haven't configured anything relating to CBT. It was already enabled after I did the conversion between ESXi 4.1 and 6.5 hosts.

To me that strangest thing is that the converter worked okay with the old 4.1 environment. Same backup software (Veritas NetBackup) is used on both systems.

Edit: the destination is Workstation/Player format.

[POCEH]

We don't test Converter with external backup/restore applications (like Veritas NetBackup), but I've found an interesting topic about permissions: How to add Virtual Machine Server credentials using tpconfig command see option 3.

Seems that access to ctk files has insufficient right or these files are locked during operation with Converter, could you verify these doubts?

Also there are few articles about enable/disable CBT VMware Knowledge Base and VMware Knowledge Base however this will interfere with NetBackup probably.

Could you test some VM by disabling CBT and do conversion?

Thanks

[Pjokela]

Yes, I can test it with the CBT disabled. However, the converter worked with the old ESX 4.1 environment together with the same backup software.

[POCEH]

What about: "Seems that access to ctk files has insufficient right or these files are locked during operation with Converter, could you verify these doubts?"

[Pjokela]

I'll have to check that also. Any clue what end could lock these files? NetBackup, ESX, Converter?

[POCEH]

Couldn't be Converter because it is one attempting to open them as part of conversion of vmdk.