vCenter inventory object name with special character such as "+" may exhibit issues when used in HTTP file access API

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vCenter Server 8.0
• VMware vCenter Server 7.0

Issue/Introduction

vCenter inventory object name with special character such as "+" may exhibit issues when used in HTTP file access API

Backup clients may experience issue while restoring the VM that it is unable to download the file.

Environment

HTTP file access APIs on vCenter.

Cause

A mismatch in encoding the special characters causes incorrect file path in the API URL.

vpxd will have below log entries:

/var/log/vmware/vpxd/

YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss.862Z info vpxd[22171] [Originator@6876 sub=HTTP server /folder req=00007fc6d8e428e0 user=VSPHERE.LOCAL\user_name] Got HTTP PUT request for /folder/BR/BR.br?dcpath=VSAN-DC+&dsname=vsanDatastore
YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss.884Z verbose vpxd[22166] [Originator@6876 sub=HTTP server /folder req=00007fc6d8e428e0] Sent Not Found response for PUT /folder/BR/BR.br?dcpath=VSAN-DC%2B&dsname=vsanDatastore

Resolution

It is recommended to avoid special characters such as +, -, @,!, etc.. in the Inventory objects (DC, Folders, VMs, Datastores, etc..) of the vCenter until a fix is released.