Machine CloneVM : Requested value 'debian8_64Guest' was not found.

[mkaetm]

Hi,

We introduced Debian Linux in our vRA (7.3) / vSphere (6.0 Update 3) Environment recently. I prepared a template, created the corresponding blueprints. However, when I try to deploy a Debian-based VM I get the following error message in the logs:

Machine : CloneVM : Requested value 'debian8_64Guest' was not found.

I grabbed the necessary Guest OS Identifier from here: https://www.vmware.com/support/orchestrator/doc/vro-vsphere60-api/html/VcVirtualMachineGuestOsIdenti...

Any advice?

Thanks in advance.

Br,

Matthias

[daphnissov]

Why did you change the OS identifier from what the new VM wizard set for you when you created the template?

[mkaetm]

Because the template contains Debian 9.4. It was created by another department as a VMware Workstation compatible image, which I just imported in vSphere using the vCenter Server Converter.

I know Debian 9.x is not supported officially, but I thought to give it a try just to see if it can be used with vRealize Automation.

I changed the Guest OS Identifier to "other Linux 64 Bit" (just for testing purposes), but then the customization does not work.

[daphnissov]

Debian 9.x is supported in vSphere from 6.5 onward, but not in vRA. As long as you're not trying to use the guest or software agent, it shouldn't matter from vRA's perspective. But if vCenter can't deploy from it using a given customization spec then vRA can't either. So you may need to restore guestOS = "debian9-64" in your VMX config file to make it work at all.

[mkaetm]

Hi, I checked the Guest OS Support Matrix in the vRA documentation. And there is Debian listed as supported guest OS (at least Debian 6.x to 8.x):

https://docs.vmware.com/en/vRealize-Automation/7.0/vrealize-automation-6x7x-support-matrix.pdf

The original Guest OS Identifier of the template was "Debian Linux 8", because we are still on vSphere 6.0, which does not support Debian 9.x.

"As long as you're not trying to use the guest or software agent, it shouldn't matter from vRA's perspective"

And that is the problem -> we need the Guest Agent for the automatic VM configuration.

I was able to install the guest agent manually and it seems to be running.