OVFTool 2.1.0 with Active Directory Question (vSphere crashes)

[bithead2]

When I try to export one of my VMs using File/Export/Export OVF Template....it crashes vSphere with a nice assertion window.

To see what the cause of this is, I decided to try using ovftool 2.1.0 on Linux to export the VM instead, to see what happens (like does it crash ovftool?).

I got stuck though because when I log into the vCenter I have to specify a domain\username format and I can't figure out how to pass this to ovftool in a way that doesn't cause errors.

For example, I tried things like this:

# ovftool  vi://myvcenter.domain.com/DataCenterName/vm/

Username:  MYDOMAIN\Administrator

Password: whatever

Didn't work, I don't think it likes the backslash.

So I tried stuffing it in a variable:

# DF="MYDOMAIN\Administrator"

# ovftool  vi://"$DF"@myvcenter.domain.com/DataCenterName/vm/

Error: Curl error: Couldn't connect to server

Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks,

CJ

[bryanluoma]

try this:

ovftool vi://<user>:<password>@myvcenter.domain.com/<DataCenterName>/vm/

[bithead2]

That doesn't work because it looks like this:

# ovftool vi://NTDOMAIN\Administrator:MyCoolPassword@myvcenter.domain.com/DataCenterName/vm/

If you change \ to \\

# ovftool vi://NTDOMAIN\\Administrator:MyCoolPassword@myvcenter.domain.com/DataCenterName/vm/

then you get the same error (curl error->Error: Curl error: Couldn't connect to server).

CJ

[bryanluoma]

Okay, I am very new to the tool, but trying to help.

The "Administrator" user is a domain account in this case?

Do you have to supply the domain? have you tried without the domain:

# ovftool vi://Administrator:<password>@vCenter.domain.com/...

[bithead2]

This vCenter is Active Directory only.

CJ

[admin · Accepted solution]

please take a look at this post it explains what you need to do

http://communities.vmware.com/thread/332419?tstart=30

eske

[bithead2]

Thanks. that's it.

Something to add to the manual?

Cheers,

CJ

[admin]

Yes, I have it as a todo/bug to next version of ovftool. I asked Matt to put it on the forum just in case someone else was having the same problem

eske

[bithead2]

Much appreciated.  My KB search turned up lots of other interesting stuff.  Not that though   I did learn about some other things in the process though

CJ

[RoscoT]

Gosh, that's some omission from the OVF Tool User Guide. :smileyblush:

So in summary you need to specify your domain account in the format <domain>%5c<account> instead of <domain>\<account>

Here's an example to export to OVF format a VM called MyVM when you need domain authentication to your vCenter server: [This was run on a Windows client]

ovftool vi://mydomain%5cMyVMAdmin:MyPassword@MyvCenterServer.mydomain.com/MyDatacenter/vm/MyVM c:\MyOVF.ovf

And if you omit the "mydomain%5cMyVMAdmin:MyPassword@" section you will still need to use the <domain>%5c<account> format when prompted for your credentials otherwise you will get the Curl error:

C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware OVF Tool>ovftool vi://MyvCenterServer.mydomain.com/MyDatacenter/vm/MyVM c:\MyOVF.ovf
Please enter login information for source vi://MyvCenterServer.mydomain.com/
Username: mydomain\MyVMAdmin
Password: *********
Error: Curl error: Couldn't resolve host name

C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware OVF Tool>ovftool vi://MyvCenterServer.mydomain.com/MyDatacenter/vm/MyVM c:\MyOVF.ovf
Please enter login information for source vi://MyvCenterServer.mydomain.com/
Username: mydomain%5cMyVMAdmin
Password: *********
Opening VI source: vi://mydomain    ☺MyVMAdmin@MyvCenterServer.mydomain.com:443/MyDatacenter/vm/MyVM
Opening OVF target: c:\MyOVF.ovf
Writing OVF package: c:\MyOVF.ovf
Disk progress: 12%

And....... as a side note with the above example it will export the VM to the "C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware OVF Tool" directoy instead of to the C:\ directory. Come on VMware, you're better than that.

[dpetche]

This doesn't seem to work with ovftool version 4.2.0. on 64-bit Windows 10.

When I try any credential, I see an error saying

Error: Could not lookup host: <the username I typed>