BOSH Command Shows the Error, "The object[s] '<[Vim.VirtualMachine] vm-5521>' should have the following properties: ["snapshot"]"

Products

• Operations Manager

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

When running a number of BOSH commands for Pivotal Cloud Foundry 1.8 and above this kinds of errors are seen.

When running a BOSH command, for example "bosh deploy" or "bosh vms", you see output like the following:

Started creating bound missing vms
 Started creating bound missing vms > nfs_server-partition-####/0
 Started creating bound missing vms > router-partition-####/0
 Started creating bound missing vms > mysql_proxy-partition-####/0
 Started creating bound missing vms > ccdb-partition-####/0
 Started creating bound missing vms > uaadb-partition-####/0
 Started creating bound missing vms > consoledb-partition-####/0
 Done creating bound missing vms > ccdb-partition-####/0 (00:00:42)
 Done creating bound missing vms > consoledb-partition-####/0 (00:00:47)
 Done creating bound missing vms > router-partition-####/0 (00:00:47)
 Failed creating bound missing vms > mysql_proxy-partition-####/0: The object[s] '<[Vim.VirtualMachine] vm-5521>' should have the following properties: ["snapshot"]
, but they were missing these: #<Set: {"snapshot"}>
. (00:04:26)
 Failed creating bound missing vms > uaadb-partition-####/0: The object[s] '<[Vim.VirtualMachine] vm-5521>' should have the following properties: ["snapshot"]
, but they were missing these: #<Set: {"snapshot"}>
. (00:04:26)
 Failed creating bound missing vms > nfs_server-partition-####/0: The object[s] '<[Vim.VirtualMachine] vm-5473>' should have the following properties: ["snapshot"]
, but they were missing these: #<Set: {"snapshot"}>

Note that The object[s] '<[Vim.VirtualMachine] vm-5521>' should have the following properties: ["snapshot"], but they were missing these: #<Set: {"snapshot"}> Error here. These were observed when running both "bosh deploy" or "bosh vms" in this environment.

 

Environment

Cause

In some cases the snapshot saved on the VM template, Also Known As a Stemcell, gets deleted or changed.  Bosh uses this template to create new virtual machines and requires a snapshot to exist.  Users will encounter this error if the snapshot gets removed or modified.

Resolution

The resolution to this problem is by doing the following:

1. Run "bosh deployments" to get the stemcell number for the cf-release bosh deployment.

2. Download that version of the stemcell from Broadcom support portal.

3. Run "bosh upload-stemcell <stemcell-location> --fix"

4. Run "bosh deploy" or Apply Changes in Ops Manager, which then completed successfully without the "snapshot" issue.

It's very important that when re-uploading the Stemcell, you download the same version of the Stemcell that was being used in the environment prior to these errors. If ever in doubt, running "bosh deployments" will tell you the Stemcell version for each deployment that BOSH knows about.


In some cases, the above resolution may not be possible. This could happen, for example, if your Director is not operational perhaps due to the error you're encountering. For that situation, you can use the following alternative instructions.

1. Login to the vSphere Client.
2. Navigate to Cluster & Hosts view.  Select the cluster being used by this deployment.
3. Click the "VMs" tab, so you get a list of all the VMs deployed to that Cluster. Sort by name.
4. Each VM that begins with "sc-" is a stemcell. For each stemcell do the following:
   1. Right click on the Stemcell, select Snapshots, go to Manage Snapshots.
   2. On the next screen, make sure that there is one snapshot, the name defaults to "initial".
   3. If you do not see a snapshot, close the window. Right click on the VM and select Snapshots. Take a Snapshot. Name the snapshot "initial" and create it.
5. When you have verified that every Stemcell has at least one snapshot, return to Operations (Ops) Manager & Apply Changes again.

The steps above can be minimized if you know the VM name for the stemcell which is failing. In some cases, the error message might include this. In that case, you can simply add a snapshot for that VM and try again.