Identical IP address for VMs deployed using a vApp OVF Template

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

• Identical IP address for VMs deployed using a vApp OVF Template.
• Deploying a vApp OVF Template with multiple VMs results in some VMs having identical IP addresses.
• Deploying an OVF Template with 3 virtual machines results in two of them having identical IP addresses.
• The VMs have the same IP address after deployment, even when they were assigned different IP addresses.

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 6.0.x

Cause

This issue occurs when the OVF uses the same variable name for multiple VMs within separate VirtualSystems.

Resolution

To resolve this issue, assign a unique value for the Property tag attribute ovf:key for each VirtualSystem.

For example:

Change the ovf:key values from:

 

<Property ovf:key="<B>IP Address" ovf:type="string" ovf:userConfigurable="true" ovf:value="IP_Address_1">
<label>IP Address VM1</label>
<Description>IP Address VM1</Description>
</Property>
<Property ovf:key="<B>IP Address" ovf:type="string" ovf:userConfigurable="true" ovf:value="IP_Address_2">
<label>IP Address VM2</label>
<Description>IP Address VM2</Description>
</Property>

to:

 

<Property ovf:key="<B>IP_Address_VM1" ovf:type="string" ovf:userConfigurable="true" ovf:value="IP_Address_1">
<label>IP Address VM1</label>
<Description>IP Address VM1</Description>
</Property>
<Property ovf:key="<B>IP_Address_VM2" ovf:type="string" ovf:userConfigurable="true" ovf:value="IP_Address_2">
<label>IP Address VM2</label>
<Description>IP Address VM2</Description>