Application Instance Fails with the Message "Directory renamed before its status could be extracted" in PCF

Products

• VMware Tanzu Application Service for VMs

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

The process of application staging or application instance creation fails with the following message:

... [CELL/2] ERR Copying into the container failed: stream-in: nstar: error streaming in: exit status 2. 
Output: tar: XXXX: Directory renamed before its status could be extracted 

Environment

Cause

An OvelayFS Kernel bug is the reason of this error. The Ubuntu Bug report #1728489 indicates this is fixed in kernel 4.4.0.103 and the latest stemcell for PAS 2.0 is 3468.2 has kernel version 4.4.0.116 containing the fix.

Resolution

Please do not opt-out GrootFS without telling us. Pivotal Support and R&D would like to hear about situations where opting out becomes necessary.

We have identified the issue and we working with Canonical in getting the patch that is fixing it backported to 4.4 Kernels.  

The issue can be resolved by reverting to the previous implementation for container filesystems.

You can do so by unchecking “Enable the GrootFS container image plugin for Garden RunC” in the Application Containers page of Ops Manager.