Error: " "Unknown error occurred" when uploading OVA

Products

• VMware Cloud Director
• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• OVA Upload Failure due to following error:

Allocation unit MegaBytes does not match the rules for CIM programmatic unit specification used in the OVF descriptors

• Looking at the /var/log/vmware/content-library/cls.log

errors = [OvfError (com.vmware.vcenter.ovf.ovf_error) => {
    category = VALIDATION,
    issues = [],
    name = <null>,
    value = <null>,
    message = <null>,
    error = <null>
}],
    warnings = [OvfWarning (com.vmware.vcenter.ovf.ovf_warning) => {
    category = VALIDATION,
    issues = [ParseIssue (com.vmware.vcenter.ovf.parse_issue) => {
    category = SECTION_UNKNOWN,
    file = descriptor.ovf,
    lineNumber = 6,
    columnNumber = 5,
    message = LocalizableMessage (com.vmware.vapi.std.localizable_message) => {
        id = com.vmware.vdcs.ovf-lib.SECTION_UNKNOWN_REQUIRED,
        defaultMessage = 6:5:SECTION_UNKNOWN: Unsupported required section DiskSection (Virtual disk information).,
        args = [6:5:SECTION_UNKNOWN:, DiskSection, Virtual disk information],
        params = <null>,
        localized = <null>

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 8.x

VMware  vCenter Server 7.x

VMware vCloud Director 

Cause

• This issue will occur if the 'AllocationUnits' specified within the OVF file are not written in accordance with the standardized formatting outlined within the Open Virtualization Format Specification. 
  
  Example of incorrect AllocationUnits format

 <rasd:AllocationUnits>MegaBytes</rasd:AllocationUnits>
        <rasd:Caption>2048 MB of memory</rasd:Caption>
        <rasd:Description>Memory Size</rasd:Description>
        <rasd:ElementName>2048 MB of memory</rasd:ElementName>
        <rasd:InstanceID>2</rasd:InstanceID>
        <rasd:ResourceType>4</rasd:ResourceType>
        <rasd:VirtualQuantity>2048</rasd:VirtualQuantity>

• This issue may occur if prefix ovf: is present for sections

<ovf:DiskSection>
</ovf:DiskSection>
<ovf:NetworkSection>
</ovf:NetworkSection>

Resolution

• To resolve this issue ensure that the 'AllocationUnits' specified within the OVF file of the OVA are modified to the following format and 'caption' removed, if present

        <rasd:AllocationUnits>byte * 2^20</rasd:AllocationUnits>
        <rasd:Description>Memory Size</rasd:Description>
        <rasd:ElementName>2048 MB of memory</rasd:ElementName>
        <rasd:InstanceID>2</rasd:InstanceID>
        <rasd:ResourceType>4</rasd:ResourceType>
        <rasd:VirtualQuantity>2048</rasd:VirtualQuantity>

• Remove the prefix ovf: from sections

<DiskSection>
</DiskSection>
<NetworkSection>
</NetworkSection>

• Workaround:

Upload the OVA directly into vCenter Server before then importing it to Cloud Director.