Error: class java.lang.NullPointerException When uploading OVA/OVF to Catalog

Products

• VMware Cloud Director

Issue/Introduction

• Uploading OVF/OVA to VMware Cloud Director Catalog fails with java.lang.NullPointerException In the VMware Cloud Director UI.
• In the /opt/vmware/vcloud-director/logs/vcloud-container-debug.log you see entries similar to:
  
  2025-02-28 10:09:12,319 | WARN     | task-service-activity-pool-56772 | VAppUploadManagerImpl          | Transfer session: ########-####-####-####-############. Error during content upload: null |
 requestId=########-####-####-####-############,request=POST https://example.com/api/catalog/########-####-####-####-############/action/upload,requestTime=1740733741339,remoteAddress=XXX.XXX.XXX:55988,userAgent=Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 ...,accept=application/*+xml;version 39.0.0-alpha vcd=########-####-####-####-############,task=########-####-####-####-############ activity=(com.vmware.vcloud.backendbase.management.system.TaskActivity,urn:uuid:########-####-####-####-############)
java.lang.NullPointerException
        at com.vmware.vcloud.fabric.storage.copy.impl.OvfTransferManagerImpl.validateFirmwareConfig(OvfTransferManagerImpl.java:699)
        at com.vmware.ssdc.backend.services.impl.VAppUploadManagerImpl.handleUploadOvfDescriptor(VAppUploadManagerImpl.java:2203)
        at com.vmware.ssdc.backend.services.impl.VAppUploadManagerImpl.handleUploadBody(VAppUploadManagerImpl.java:2082)
        at com.vmware.ssdc.backend.services.impl.VAppUploadManagerImpl.handleUpload(VAppUploadManagerImpl.java:1979)
        at com.vmware.ssdc.backend.services.impl.VAppUploadManagerImpl.executeTask(VAppUploadManagerImpl.java:5464)
        at com.vmware.vcloud.backendbase.management.system.TaskActivity$ExecutePhase$1.doInSecurityContext(TaskActivity.java:848)
        at com.vmware.vcloud.backendbase.management.system.TaskActivity$ExecutePhase$1.doInSecurityContext(TaskActivity.java:843)
        at com.vmware.vcloud.backendbase.management.system.SecurityContextTemplate.executeForOrgAndUser(SecurityContextTemplate.java:49)
        at com.vmware.vcloud.backendbase.management.system.TaskActivity$ExecutePhase.execute(TaskActivity.java:850)
        at com.vmware.vcloud.backendbase.management.system.TaskActivity$ExecutePhase.invokeInner(TaskActivity.java:746)
        at com.vmware.vcloud.backendbase.management.system.TaskActivity$TaskActivityBasePhase.invoke(TaskActivity.java:361)
        at com.vmware.vcloud.activity.executors.ActivityRunner.runPhase(ActivityRunner.java:175)
        at com.vmware.vcloud.activity.executors.ActivityRunner.run(ActivityRunner.java:112)
        at java.base/java.util.concurrent.Executors$RunnableAdapter.call(Executors.java:515)
        at java.base/java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:264)
        at java.base/java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1128)
        at java.base/java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:628)
        at java.base/java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:829)
  
  

Environment

VMware Cloud Director 10.6.0.1
VMware Cloud Director 10.6
VMware Cloud Director 10.5.X

Cause

This issue occurs when the OVF/OVA file is missing the VM Hardware specification. 

Resolution

This issue is resolved in 10.6.1  available at Broadcom Downloads.

Workaround

To workaround this issue:

1. Extract the files from the OVA
2. Modify the the file that has a .ovf extension and add the following line in bold under <System> tag with the desired VM Hardware version:
   
   
    
     <System>
       <vssd:ElementName>Virtual Hardware Family</vssd:ElementName>
       <vssd:InstanceID>0</vssd:InstanceID>
       <vssd:VirtualSystemIdentifier><VM-Name></vssd:VirtualSystemIdentifier>
    <vssd:VirtualSystemType>vmx-15</vssd:VirtualSystemType>
     </System>
3. Delete the manifest file and any cert file(s).
4. Upload the OVF files again to the Catalog