Failed to deploy plugin using multi-manifest

[vedaniks]

I am trying deploy my remote plugin on vCenter Server 7.x and 8.x using multi-manifest files. From vCenter 8.0 support for Italian language has beed added. I am trying to do the same with plugin. I have followed guidelines given here for multi-manifest support.

However, I am getting error while deploying the plugin on vcenters depending on the order of manifest files I specify in plugin-multi-manifest.json file.

If I specify manifest file for vCenter 7.x first, then I am not able to deploy plugin on vCenter 8.x and vice versa. 

I had verified both the manifest files by separately deploying plugin on vcenter servers.

Attached below is zip file that contains manifest files. Please let me know what I am doing wrong. Thanks!

@Denis_Chorbadzh , 

[Denis_Chorbadzh]

Hi @vedaniks ,

The manifests should be ordered from the most feature-rich (latest) to the more basic. For example plugin-80.json, then plugin-70.json.

The 8.0 vSphere Client will try to deploy plugin-80.json and will succeed. The 7.0 vSphere Client will try to deploy plugin-80.json and will fail. Then, it will try to deploy plugin-70.json and will succeed.

Let us know of the errors you are getting.

Best Regards,

Denis

[vedaniks]

Hello Denis,

Thanks for the reply.

When I put the below in plugin-multi-manifest.json, I get the below error while deploying plugin.

{
  "manifestVersion": "1.0.0",
  "manifests": [
    "plugin-80.json",
    "plugin-70.json"
  ]
}

Missing plug-in manifest. Make sure that the manifest is present at the plug-in location.

If I put below in the plugin-multi-manifest.json,, plugin deployment works.

{
  "manifestVersion": "1.0.0",
  "manifests": [
    "plugin-80.json",
    "plugin.json"
  ]
}

Can you tell me why this might be happening?

[Denis_Chorbadzh · Accepted solution]

Hi @vedaniks ,

Thank you for the valuable feedback.

Since the default plugin manifest file is called plugin.json, it turned out to be required by the system. This is why the following is working fine:

{
  "manifestVersion": "1.0.0",
  "manifests": [
    "plugin-80.json",
    "plugin.json"
  ]
}

We are going to address this limitation in a next vSphere release. Until then, please name the least desired (lowest priority) manifest file as plugin.json. For example:

{
  "manifestVersion": "1.0.0",
  "manifests": [
    "plugin-80.json",
    "plugin-70.json"
    "plugin.json"
  ]
}

Best Regards,

Denis