ReferenceError: vm is not defined for waiting for the DNS name?

[chrisheartland]

Has anyone seen this message before? I just started getting in when I try to build machines at our California vCenter from our Dallas vCAC. This happens during the provisioning state and is caught on a "vim3WaitToolsStarted" Action. Is it timing out due to latency perhaps? It gets past building stage and the name is set fine.

Edit: I can build local machines just fine. It's only when building machines in California that I get this error.

Edit2:  I'm noticing that VC:VirtualMachine is saying "Not Set" while the others such as vCAC:VirtualMachine show the vm name. The vim3Waittoolsstarted action requires VC:VirtualMachine. I have no idea why vCAC wouldn't pass this info for one set of machines vs. another??

[stvkpln]

How are things configured? Definitely not enough detail....  are both datacenters managed out of the same vCenter instance? If so, check permissions.. if not, make sure both vCenter instances are added to the vCO server. 

[chrisheartland]

Our primary vCenter is in Dallas. Our second vCenter is in California. They are in linked mode. Both servers were added to vCO via the vCenter plugin. As for vCenter permissions, what exactly am I looking for here?

See image for more details. The first one has "vc:virtualmachine" missing. I know that's the problem just not sure how to fix it.

http://i.imgur.com/S08HJL3.jpg

[stvkpln]

There's a lot of reasons it could be happening... vCO can't talk to that vCenter, perhaps? What does the buffer output in the workflow runner shower?

[chrisheartland]

Just an update. It appears to be a firewall issue. We showed a drop on port 10443 which is the vcenter inventory service over https.We'll put the rule in tomorrow morning and check again.

[stvkpln · Accepted solution]

While you're waiting, I would recommend making this change (it's the new default and VMware has recommended it to multiple people over the last 6-9 months): check /etc/vco/app-server/vmo.properties (or find the file if not using the vCO Appliance) and add the following line (if not present): com.vmware.o11n.vim.useInventoryService=false

Then you may want to re-try and see if that works... The inventory service is bad juju with certain calls in more recent versions of the vSphere plugin, and that is going to be the default value moving forward (I think starting with 5.5.2? Can't recall).

That might set you straight.

-Steve

[chrisheartland]

I made the change, rebooted, and got the same error. I checked the FW logs again and it's still dropping on the 10443 port.

Edit: I take that back. It looks like it did actually work. Thanks!

[stvkpln]

Nice! I forgot to say "restart the vCO Server", but you got it. Glad that sorted you out. I had a lot of weird problems at one point in developing with the Inventory Service still being used, so I've had it off for some time.

[vMarkusK1985]

It seem that we have a similar issue after upgrading from vCAC 6.0.1 to 6.1.0 with integrated vCO.

The Problem occurs with the extended VM-Provisioning-Stubs.

A Workflow from the Library, for example “Start vSphere VM” works fine.

I also added the option “com.vmware.o11n.vim.useInventoryService=false”, but no improvement.

Do you thinks that is also a problem with the Inventory service?

In addition I think there are some changes in the “Workflow Template” after the upgrade of the vCO. Perhaps there is a problem with the newly added input parameters in the Workflow?

[stvkpln]

Did you apply the workflow patch package that came with vCAC 6.1? There was a change to how VM's were identified from 6.0.x to 6.1.x, so if you don't apply that patch, anything done during MachineProvisioned or MachineDisposing requiring the vCenter VM object won't work because it won't be able to find the VM in the vCenter inventory.

[flynmooney]

[2015-11-05 14:16:43.032] [I] ReferenceError: vm is not defined for waiting for the DNS name

I got this error with Version 6.2.3 vRA and vCO 6.0.3.  After some quick troubleshooting I figured out that we hadn't configured vCenter in vCO yet.

Library -> vCenter -> Configuration -> Add a vCenter Server instance