This log file mostly seems to show that deletion of the VM is failing, as Foreman is trying to roll back the host creation process. That only happens when the MAC address from the VM can't be retrieved.

It would be valuable to see from logs on the VMware side, if such a thing exists, whether the VM was successfully created or not.

No way to get any interesting logs on VMWare side.
The VM is fully created(with expected params) but when foreman try to recover UUID (MAC?) it's not able to. We can see in vSphere something is trying to recover something.. nothing more..

Ah, so if it's created that makes it more interesting, as it's getting further. I take it the VM continues running OK? Is a UUID visible from VMware? What if you go to Infrastructure > Compute Resources and browse to the VM - is it listed, and is the UUID visible in the URL?

I just re-read the code that's being triggered: https://github.com/theforeman/foreman/blob/1.7.0-RC2/app/models/concerns/orchestration/compute.rb#L115

Maybe it is the UUID rather than the MAC as you say, as it first iterates to find the UUID, then the MAC, and it's feasible that uuid.blank? is true, which causes delCompute to fail (maybe this step should be skipped if uuid wasn't yet found).

I'd suggest commenting out the delCompute line and see which of the two following messages (about being blank, or used by another host) is seen.

New test:

We've commented the line: https://github.com/theforeman/foreman/blob/1.7.0-RC2/app/models/concerns/orchestration/compute.rb#L146

So the VM is not deleted on rollback. After that, we've checked the VM attributes in compute resources and seen that there is no associated MAC value with the VM.

To add to the story, it was observed that the MAC is generated when the VM is booted up for the first time.

Foreman usually creates the VM, fetches the UUID and MAC, creates DHCP and TFTP records for that MAC, and then powers it up once those are ready.

Shlomi, you worked on #1945, did you observe the same behaviour with MAC generation?

Hi there, I also have the same problem with provisoning vm's without vsphere.
I am using the latest nightly and cant deploy without a cluster.

Do i do something wrong or s it going to be in the next nightly releases ?

I can confirm that this is due to ESXi 5.0 (have no other version on hand) generates the MAC on the VM's first bootup, not on VM creation, as seen when manually creating a VM through vSphere Client.

Dominic, on vsphere the mac is created when the vm is created (and returns to foreman, via fog and updates the host.)
It seems that on ESXi, the mac is created on the first time the vm is booted (which is kinda late for us)

As stated in the documentation: "Upon virtual machine creation, ESX/ESXi or vCenter Server systems assign each virtual network interface its own unique MAC address."

From: https://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-55/index.jsp#com.vmware.wssdk.pg.doc/PG_VM_Config.12.4.html?path=7_0_0_1_9_2_5#1115910

Maybe you can set the addressType of the VirtualEthernetCard to generated, if you got access to that item/field.

"
[...]
Virtual Network Interfaces
You can add a virtual network interface to a virtual machine using a subclass of VirtualEthernetCard, you can set the addressType to Manual, Generated, or Assigned. If you choose Assigned, you can specify a MAC address explicitly[...]"

Anthony Lapenna wrote:

As stated in the documentation: "Upon virtual machine creation, ESX/ESXi or vCenter Server systems assign each virtual network interface its own unique MAC address."

From: https://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-55/index.jsp#com.vmware.wssdk.pg.doc/PG_VM_Config.12.4.html?path=7_0_0_1_9_2_5#1115910 (Network part)

Maybe you can set the addressType of the VirtualEthernetCard to generated, if you got access to that item/field.

"
[...]
Virtual Network Interfaces
You can add a virtual network interface to a virtual machine using a subclass of VirtualEthernetCard, you can set the addressType to Manual, Generated, or Assigned. If you choose Assigned, you can specify a MAC address explicitly[...]"

Hey,
Still investigating this issue.
Regarding your suggestion to set the addressType please note that it is already set in fog.
See https://github.com/fog/fog/blob/master/lib/fog/vsphere/requests/compute/create_vm.rb#L80

Any news about this ticket?

I can confirm this bug is still present in foreman 1.7.2

Is it not possible to do an !Ifstatement for VMWARE/ESXI/Vpshere on this line ?

https://github.com/theforeman/foreman/blob/1.7.0-RC2/app/models/concerns/orchestration/compute.rb#L146

Hey there,

are there any news to this bug? I would really appreciate being able to use foreman with my standalone hypervisor.

Greetings,
pgress