Import OVF failed due to "response code: 500"

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0
• VMware vSphere ESXi 8.0

Issue/Introduction

Import OVF failed due to "response code: 500".

When using vSphere Client, you may see error below.

# (VC) /var/log/vmware/content-library/cls.log

2025-01-14T02:39:01.026Z | ERROR    | m4qzkm5i-220444-auto-4q3h-h5:70046326-d1-95 | cls-simple-activity-13    | ImportSessionActivity          | OVF import session 3b0dcf84-ab81-4802-ac01-b6f8406ba85f failed with server error.
com.vmware.vapi.std.errors.ServiceUnavailable: ServiceUnavailable (com.vmware.vapi.std.errors.service_unavailable) => {
    messages = [LocalizableMessage (com.vmware.vapi.std.localizable_message) => {
    id = com.vmware.ovfs.ovfs-main.ovfs.transfer_failed,
    defaultMessage = Transfer failed: Invalid response code: 500.,
    args = [Invalid response code: 500],
    params = <null>,
    localized = <null>
}],
    data = <null>,
    errorType = SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE
}
:::
2025-01-14T02:39:01.050Z | DEBUG    | m4qzkm5i-220444-auto-4q3h-h5:70046326-d1-95 | cls-simple-activity-13    | ImportSessionActivity          | Completing import lease ManagedObjectReference: type = HttpNfcLease, value = session[52691d6c-73af-c65c-8068-90a16e0aa234]52e3c630-12b5-0026-b26f-7a03b257de18, serverGuid = e62cf0fb-15c5-4495-9264-f22d92e67e13 (exception: (vim.fault.OvfImportFailed) {
   faultCause = (vmodl.fault.SystemError) {
      faultCause = null,
      faultMessage = (vmodl.LocalizableMessage) [
         (vmodl.LocalizableMessage) {
            dynamicType = null,
            dynamicProperty = null,
            key = com.vmware.ovfs.ovfs-main.ovfs.transfer_failed,
            arg = (vmodl.KeyAnyValue) [
               (vmodl.KeyAnyValue) {
                  dynamicType = null,
                  dynamicProperty = null,
                  key = 0,
                  value = Invalid response code: 500
               }
            ],
            message = Transfer failed: Invalid response code: 500.
         }
      ],
      reason = 
   },
   faultMessage = null
})

When using ovftool to deploy OVF directly to ESXi, you may see error below.

# example output for terminal

PS C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware OVF Tool> .\ovftool.exe -ds=nfs-01 'C:\Users\Administrator\Downloads\photon ovf\photon-ovf-test.ovf' vi://root:[email protected]
Deploying to VI: vi://[email protected]:443/
Transfer Failed
Error: Failed to transfer file [photon-ovf-test-0.vmdk] to host [172.20.81.50] (response code:500)
Warning:
 - No manifest file found.
 - Wrong file size specified in OVF descriptor for 'photon-ovf-test-1.vmdk' (specified: -1, actual 232236032).
Completed with errors

# (ESXi) /var/run/log/hostd.log

2025-01-14T02:52:20.865Z Er(163) Hostd[2098442]: [Originator@6876 sub=Httpnfcsvc] Error on read, error: -1
2025-01-14T02:52:20.865Z Er(163) Hostd[2098442]: [Originator@6876 sub=Httpnfcsvc] [DiskUploadWorker] Error reading input: Error on read, error: -1

Environment

vSphere ESXi 7.0

vSphere ESXi 8.0

Cause

This could happen because of a corrupted vmdk file included in OVF files. Import OVF may failed with "response code: 500" if OVF includes corrupted vmdk files.

If .mf file is available, we could check whether vmdk is corrupted or not by comparing the vmdk hash in .mf file with an actual hash value.

# In this case, vmdk hash value is different from an actual hash value, which means this vmdk file is corrupted.

PS C:\Users\Administrator\Downloads\photon ovf> cat .\photon-ovf-test.mf
SHA256(photon-ovf-test-2.nvram)= a79d8d4ea6fcb63ef8b90b3e872a5d5382ec25b8d3af5dc09d1bab24f5f3ef28
SHA256(photon-ovf-test.ovf)= 117d07136d2b8cbafd834c1fe2c5fe3ea22f0c854b59fdfac9fdf60e5ea85301
SHA256(photon-ovf-test-1.vmdk)= 23eff1cfb80c92f8d7adc66b08ac9248ef0e83000d7c42eb513db43c9af1c0fe

PS C:\Users\Administrator\Downloads\photon ovf> Get-FileHash .\photon-ovf-test-1.vmdk

Algorithm       Hash                                                                   Path
---------       ----                                                                   ----
SHA256          173477E727467FA9A737F6CE66DFCE290DAF4651AD1FC6E34A619F84E6CC09E9       C:\Users\Administrator\Downlo...

Resolution

There is no workaroud for this. To deploy ovf successfully, all the files must be uncorrupted.