Session Timeout or Failure When Uploading OVA/OVF Files Due to Stale Storage Profiles

Products

• VMware Cloud Director

Issue/Introduction

When attempting to upload a vApp template from an OVA file in vCloud Director (vCD)  the session fails or times out.

The underlying cause, identified through database-level tracing, is a problem with stale or inaccessible storage profile metadata that blocks necessary configuration steps (like the decompression of the OVA file) required during the upload process.

2025-xx-xx xx:xx:xx,xxx | WARN     | task-service-activity-pool-7 | VAppUploadManagerImpl          | Transfer session: xxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxx-xxxxx. Error during content upload: null | requestId=xxx
xxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxx-xxxxx,request=POST https://example.com/api/catalog/xxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxx-xxxxx/action/upload,requestTime=xxxxxx,remoteAddress=x.x.x.x:4205
6,userAgent=python-requests/2.31.0,accept=application/*+xml;version 36.0 vcd=xxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxx-xxxxx.,task=xxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxx-xxxxx. activity=(com.vmware.vcloud.backendbase.management
.system.TaskActivity,urn:uuid:xxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxx-xxxxx.)
java.lang.NullPointerException
        at com.vmware.vcloud.placement.impl.ranker.MaxMinHubRanker.getFreeCapacityForProfile(MaxMinHubRanker.java:307)

UI shows error like below:

Environment

10.x

Cause

• The primary cause is a stale or inconsistent representation of Storage Profiles at the database (DB) level.
• The OVA import process requires a step that involves unzipping or decompressing the package. This decompression process is inadvertently reliant on accessing or validating storage profiles in the database. When the DB ranking or access to these storage profiles is blocked or delayed due to inconsistency, the operation hangs, causing the session to time out

Resolution

1. Extract the OVA/OVF Components.

2. Upload the OVF and VMDK Separately (Forced Refresh).

3. Attempt to upload the OVF descriptor (.ovf) and associated VMDK file(s) to the environment directly, bypassing the OVA.
   
   Note: Pushing the OVF + VMDK components forces the system to automatically perform a database-level refresh of the storage profiling access required for virtual disk creation.