A component of the virtual machine is not accessible on the host

[macsmax]

Hello,

Thanks for the project. I am trying to build an ubuntu 20.04 image and I get the following error:
Build 'vsphere-iso.linux-ubuntu-server' errored after 17 seconds 249 milliseconds: error creating vm: A component of the virtual machine is not accessible on the host.
I tried to run packer in -debug mode but not much more info is given.
Packer version: 1.7.4
Vsphere version: 6.7 single ESXi host, no cluster

[tenthirtyam]

Hi! This project is designed to provide working examples for using Packer with a vSphere environment that includes a vCenter Server instance. It uses the objects, such as, datacenter, cluster, and content library.

Can you confirm your environment meets these requirements?

Thanks,
Ryan

[macsmax]

Hi Ryan,
I do have a vCenter Server with a single esx host, no cluster. I have changed the packer config as follow to adapt to use host rather than cluster:

index 9f9472e..8765188 100644
--- a/builds/linux/ubuntu-server-20-04-lts/ubuntu-server-20-04-lts.pkr.hcl
+++ b/builds/linux/ubuntu-server-20-04-lts/ubuntu-server-20-04-lts.pkr.hcl
@@ -351,7 +351,8 @@ source "vsphere-iso" "linux-ubuntu-server" {

   // vSphere Settings
   datacenter = var.vsphere_datacenter
-  cluster    = var.vsphere_cluster
+  // cluster    = var.vsphere_cluster
+  host    = var.vsphere_cluster
   datastore  = var.vsphere_datastore
   folder     = var.vsphere_folder

[tenthirtyam]

Does the folder specified for the vsphere_folder variable already exist?

Ryan

[macsmax]

Hey Ryan,
yes the folder is there.
I created a cluster on my vcsa, moved the host in there. I should now have all needed: datacenter, cluster, and content library but unfortunately I still see the same error:

$ packer build -debug -force --only vsphere-iso.linux-ubuntu-server -var-file="../../vsphere.pkrvars.hcl" -var-file="../../build.pkrvars.hcl" -var-file="../../ansible.pkrvars.hcl" -var-file="../../common.pkrvars.hcl" .
Debug mode enabled. Builds will not be parallelized.
vsphere-iso.linux-ubuntu-server: output will be in this color.

==> vsphere-iso.linux-ubuntu-server: Pausing after run of step 'StepConnect'. Press enter to continue.
==> vsphere-iso.linux-ubuntu-server: Pausing after run of step 'StepDownload'. Press enter to continue.
==> vsphere-iso.linux-ubuntu-server: Pausing after run of step 'StepCreateCD'. Press enter to continue.
==> vsphere-iso.linux-ubuntu-server: Pausing after run of step 'StepRemoteUpload'. Press enter to continue.
==> vsphere-iso.linux-ubuntu-server: Creating VM...
==> vsphere-iso.linux-ubuntu-server: Pausing before cleanup of step 'StepRemoteUpload'. Press enter to continue.
==> vsphere-iso.linux-ubuntu-server: Pausing before cleanup of step 'StepCreateCD'. Press enter to continue.
==> vsphere-iso.linux-ubuntu-server: Pausing before cleanup of step 'StepDownload'. Press enter to continue.
==> vsphere-iso.linux-ubuntu-server: Pausing before cleanup of step 'StepConnect'. Press enter to continue.
Build 'vsphere-iso.linux-ubuntu-server' errored after 5 seconds 25 milliseconds: error creating vm: A component of the virtual machine is not accessible on the host.

==> Wait completed after 5 seconds 25 milliseconds

==> Some builds didn't complete successfully and had errors:
--> vsphere-iso.linux-ubuntu-server: error creating vm: A component of the virtual machine is not accessible on the host.

==> Builds finished but no artifacts were created.

Any tips?

Thanks for your help.
Max

[tenthirtyam]

Since you are running on vSphere 6.7 (the repo is designed for 7.0 U2+) did you downlevel the hardware version from 18 down to 14 (6.7 GA) or 16 (6.7 U2) in /builds/common.pkvars.hcl?

Ryan

[macsmax]

I tried both 14 and 16, same error. I'll dig a bit deeper and revert back.

[tenthirtyam]

Any luck?

[tenthirtyam]

I was able to recreate the issue by bumping the to a version that does not exist in vSphere 7.0 U2.

This resulted in the exact same error.

Refer to the following for supported version numbers: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/7.0/com.vmware.vsphere.vm_admin.doc/GUID-789C3913-1053-4850-A0F0-E29C3D32B6DA.html

Ryan