Customize, Windows with single NIC and credential crashes vCenter

[horse81]

Hi,

I'm running this workflow on a windows server 2008 r2 32 bit vm. The process stops at the customize block and crashes the vCenter service. It happens every time I run the workflow.

the exception is

"Unable to convert object, 'Task<task-6421>' plugin exception reason : convertToResult() --> Finder 'VC:Task' : unexpected error 'ch.dunes.model.sdk.SDKFinderException: convertToResult() --> Finder 'VC:Task' : unable to invoke read method : 'name''"

I believe  the exception states that it cannot find the vm ( since vCenter has crashed )

What information may I provide to help the debug?

[tschoergez]

Hi!

If vCenter crashes, the first thing to look at are the vCenter logfiles (vpxd.log)!

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=102180...

Especially when working with guest customization it might be helpful to increase the loglevel of vCenter (in the Administration / Server Settings menu in vSphere Client). (Don't foget to switch it back for production, because it slows down the service and might generate a real bunch of log entries.))

Can you clone and customize the Template/Virtual Machine manually via vSphere Client?

Cheers,

Joerg

[horse81]

Hi Joerg,

As far as I know there's no such option like setting an ip address or an admin user password for a vm in vsphere.

the vpxd.log is very verbose anyway this might be the relevant part.

2012-01-20T10:03:18.586+01:00 [05948 verbose 'Default' opID=7e61be63] [IMC] Creating a new xml element for name TimeZone

2012-01-20T10:03:18.586+01:00 [03308 verbose 'SoapAdapter.HTTPService'] User agent is 'VMware VI Client/4.0.0'

2012-01-20T10:03:18.602+01:00 [05948 error 'Default' opID=7e61be63] Win32 invalid_parameter: expression=(null), function=(null), file=(null), line=0

2012-01-20T10:03:25.950+01:00 [05948 info 'Default' opID=7e61be63] CoreDump: Writing minidump

2012-01-20T10:03:26.324+01:00 [05948 panic 'Default' opID=7e61be63]

-->

In subsequent tests it came out that it I had to fill another few non-mandatory fields ( fullName and orgName ).

Now the customization runs but the ip address is not set.

I have

"Setting param specialize.Microsoft-Windows-TCPIP.Interfaces.Interface.UnicastIpAddresses.IpAddress to value 192.168.100.11/24 an dhcpenable set to"

in vpxd.log

dhcpenable is set to false but the interface is still getting an APIPA... any clues?

[tschoergez]

hm, even invalid custspec settings should not crash your vCenter! I would open a support ticket for that...

For the IP-Settings: Try to use the library workflow with different combinations of input parameter values. Better fill out more than less

IF you don't use DHCP, you have to specify a gateway as well (and DNS-servers, too)

Cheers,

Joerg