Misconfigured ifcfg-eth file in template deployed RHEL 6.8 virtual machines

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Manually add double quotes to the DOMAIN value.

Symptoms:

• The RHEL 6.8 virtual machine was deployed from a template.
• Multiple DNS entries were added on the DNS and Domain Settings pane of the wizard.
• When the virtual machine is booting up, you see entries similar to:
  
  /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0: line 6: name.domain.com: command not found
  Shutting down interface eth0: /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0: line 6: name.domain.com: command not found
  /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0: line 6: name.domain.com: command not found
  /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0: line 6: name.domain.com: command not found
  /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0: line 6: name.domain.com: command not found
  [ OK ]
  Shutting down loopback interface: [ OK ]
  Bringing up loopback interface: [ OK ]
  Bringing up interface eth0: /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0: line 6: name.domain.com: command not found
  /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0: line 6: name.domain.com: command not found
  Determining if ip address 10.11.12.13 is already in use for device eth0...
  /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0: line 6: name.domain.com: command not found
  /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0: line 6: name.domain.com: command not found
  ./ifcfg-eth0: line 6: name.domain.com: command not found
  [ OK ]
  
  Note: These entries are also seen when running a service network restart command.

Environment

• VMware vCenter Server 5.5.x
• VMware vCenter Server 6.0.x

Cause

This issue occurs due to the DOMAIN values not being surrounded with double quotes. As the file is read on boot and/or a network restart, the shell treats the separate DNS domains as a command, if the domains are not surrounded with double quotes.

Resolution

To resolve this issue on a virtual machine, manually add the double quotes to the DOMAIN:

1. Open the /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0 file with a text editor.
2. Edit the DOMAIN entry adding double quotes around the domain entry:
   
   For Example:
   
   DOMAIN="temp.domain.com name.domain.com domain.com"
    
3. Save the file and reboot the virtual machine.

To correct this issue for future template deployments, edit the RHEL6Customization.pm file on the vCenter Server machine:

1. Open the RHEL6Customization.pm file in a plain text editor.
   
   Note: The file is located at:
   Windows: C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vpxd\imgcust\linux\imgcust-scripts\RHEL6Customization.pm
   vCenter Server Appliance: /usr/lib/vmware-vpx/imgcust/linux/imgcust-scripts/RHEL6Customization.pm
2. Change the following line:
   push(@content, "DOMAIN=" . join(' ', @$dnsSuffixes) . "\n");
   to:
   push(@content, "DOMAIN=\"" . join(' ', @$dnsSuffixes) . "\"\n");
3. Save the file.