Import entity task did not return the switch reference" error while importing vSphere 5.5 DVS to vCenter Server 6.5

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• When attempting to import to vCenter Server 6.5 DVS configuration exported previously from vCenter Server 5.5 operation fails with error:
  
  Import entity task did not return the switch reference
   
• In the vpxd.log file, you see entries similar to:
  
  2017-04-04T14:03:36.189+02:00 info vpxd[7F4728A3E700] [Originator@6876 sub=vpxLro opID=DvsImportWizard-apply-185-ngc-f0] [VpxLRO] -- BEGIN task-184 -- DVSManager -- vim.dvs.DistributedVirtualSwitchManager.importEntity -- 52aa04b5-47f2-2b57-e603-910e41762f6b(52663238-2c79-fb9d-3c0a-c251cba13f4b)
  2017-04-04T14:03:36.190+02:00 error vpxd[7F4728A3E700] [Originator@6876 sub=Default opID=DvsImportWizard-apply-185-ngc-f0]
  --> Cannot find version for urn:vpxd3/dev
  -->
  --> while parsing serialized object of type anyType
  --> at line 1, column 0
  2017-04-04T14:03:36.194+02:00 warning vpxd[7F4728A3E700] [Originator@6876 sub=UtilEx opID=DvsImportWizard-apply-185-ngc-f0] Failed to load XMLStringConfig N7Vmacore19FileFormatExceptionE(File Format Exception: Duplicate child: uplinkPortName)
  --> [context]zKq7AVECAAAAAD8GTwAZdnB4ZAAADJQrbGlidm1hY29yZS5zbwAABE8bAGqXGABP7BcAif4XAHxeGAC8XhgAvF4YAEFkGAEUK3J2c
  HhkAAHW5t8Bq0PgAYHd1gEW6NaCk9s/AWxpYnZpbS10eXBlcy5zbwABRJd0AZOPcwEIhXMBl6hzAcj7cwAv4iMAFuUjAPfrKwNUdABsaWJwdGhyZWFkLnNvLjAABC2ODmxpYmMuc28uNgA=[/context];
  2017-04-04T14:03:36.196+02:00 error vpxd[7F4728A3E700] [Originator@6876 sub=DvsUtils opID=DvsImportWizard-apply-185-ngc-f0] [DvsUtils::UncompressAndDeserialize]Deserialize failed. backupString corrupted
  2017-04-04T14:03:36.198+02:00 error vpxd[7F4728A3E700] [Originator@6876 sub=MoDvsManager opID=DvsImportWizard-apply-185-ngc-f0] [MoDvsManager] Import Failed while creating DVS from Backup with key[19 ca 2b 50 e0 6b a0 3b-cd bf 8c 6e 63 33 6f 52]. Fault:[vim.fault.BackupBlobReadFailure]
  2017-04-04T14:03:36.198+02:00 info vpxd[7F4728A3E700] [Originator@6876 sub=vpxLro opID=DvsImportWizard-apply-185-ngc-f0] [VpxLRO] -- FINISH task-184
  
  For the vpxd.log location, see Location of VMware vCenter Server 6.0 log files (2110014).

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 6.5.x
VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.5.x

Resolution

This is known issue affecting vCenter Server 6.5.

 

Currently, there is no resolution.

 

To work around this issue, deploy a temporary vCenter Server 6.0 to import and export the vDS:

1. Create a vCenter Server 6.0 for temporary use.
2. Export existing vDS from vCenter 5.5.
3. Import the vDS to the new temporary vCenter Server 6.0.
4. Export the vDS from vCenter Server 6.0.
5. Import the vDS exported from vCenter Server 6.0 to vCenter Server 6.5.

Additional Information

Location of VMware vCenter Server 6.0 log files