Restoring a virtual machine fails when VMconfig includes an extra config key (guestinfo.vf.tc.clientLicenseState)

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:
Creating a virtual machine for a restore operation fails with the error:

A specified parameter was not correct

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 5.1.x
Virtual Disk Development Kit 1.1.1
Virtual Disk Development Kit 5.0
Virtual Disk Development Kit 1.1.0
Virtual Disk Development Kit 1.0.1
Virtual Disk Development Kit 1.2.1
VMware vCenter Server 4.1.x
VMware Virtual Disk Development 1.2
VMware vCenter Server 4.0.x
Virtual Disk Development Kit 5.1
Virtual Disk Development Kit 1.2.2
Virtual Disk Development Kit 1.2
VMware vCenter Server 5.0.x

Cause

This issue occurs when the VMConfig object contains an extra config key, guestinfo.vf.tc.clientLicenseState.

Resolution

An extra config key (guestinfo.vf.tc.clientLicenseState) is added by the VMware vFabric product as a key/value pair in the VMconfig.

The guestinfo.vf.tc.clientLicenseState property indicates the information written by the client when a vFabric component comes online, and it places a message into guestinfo. This is later used by the server. Therefore, each time the vFabric component is started, the value is written to this key/value pair by the client.

However, this key/value pair is not important from a backup/restore perspective and may be omitted.