RHEL 8.x VM Customization fails to join domain or set hostname during vRA provisioning

Products

• VCF Operations/Automation (formerly VMware Aria Suite)

Issue/Introduction

When provisioning Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 8.x virtual machines through vRealize Automation (vRA) using vSphere Guest OS Customization or Cloud-init:

• The VM fails to join the Active Directory (AD) domain.
• The customization process may appear stuck or complete without applying the intended hostname or network settings.
• Cloud-init logs may show that the customization data from vSphere is not being processed.
• /var/log/cloud-init.log inside the Guest OS contains below events

  xxxx-xx-xx xx:xx:xx,316 - util.py[WARNING]: vmtoolsd failed to get guestinfo.ovfEnv: Unexpected error while running command.
Command: ['/usr/bin/vmtoolsd', '--cmd', 'info-get guestinfo.ovfEnv']
Exit code: 1
Reason: -
Stdout: 
Stderr: No value found
xxxx-xx-xx xx:xx:xx,329 - util.py[WARNING]: No instance datasource found! Likely bad things to come!

Environment

Aria Automation 8.x

vSphere 8.x, 9.x

Cause

The issue occurs because the cloud-init configuration on the RHEL 8.x template does not include the OVF datasource in its search list. Without the OVF datasource, cloud-init is unable to read the environment data passed by the vSphere platform during the customization phase.

Resolution

To resolve this issue, the cloud-init configuration in the base VM template must be updated to include the OVF datasource.

1. Power on the template VM (or a linked clone of the template).
2. Edit the Cloud-init configuration: Open /etc/cloud/cloud.cfg (or the relevant file in /etc/cloud/cloud.cfg.d/) using a text editor:

   sudo vi /etc/cloud/cloud.cfg

    
3. Update the datasource list: Ensure the datasource_list includes OVF. It is recommended to include the following standard sources:

   datasource_list: [ NoCloud, ConfigDrive, Azure, OVF, OpenStack, Ec2 ]

    
4. Clean the Cloud-init state: To ensure the next deployment triggers a fresh customization, run the clean command:

   sudo cloud-init clean --seed

    
5. Finalize the template: Shut down the VM and convert it back to a template in vCenter.
6. Test Provisioning: Deploy a new VM via vRA and verify that the hostname is correctly set and the domain join script executes successfully.

Additional Information

Prepare a Virtual Machine Template for Raw Data cloud-init Customization