cot deploy does not add serial port if one doesn't exist in OVF

[jeffbrl]

Issue Type: Potentially expected behavior, operator error, or defect

cot version: Common OVF Tool (COT), version 1.7.0+1.gada3935

OS: Ubuntu 14.04.3 LTS

vsphere version: vsphere 6.0

Summary:
Serial port is not added to guest if OVF tool does not define a serial port. If the OVF is edited to include a serial port, cot deploy will successfully deploy it. I am pointing cots at the vcenter server.

Steps to reproduce:

1. Use an OVA/OVF that doesn't include a serial port such as Tiny Core Linux https://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-21621). Note: Tiny Core doesn't seem to wire a tty to the serial port; I am using this OVA for testing because of its small size.

2. Using cots deploy in a manner such as

   (venv)jeffl@ubuntu:~/development/cot-testing$ cot -v deploy tiny-orig.ova esxi "10.10.120.150/DC1/host/host1" -u "jeffl" -p 'pass123' -d "datastore1" -N External-VM-Network=PG_RED -S telnet://:3010,server -n my_tiny
   INFO: COT.vm_factory         Loading 'tiny-orig.ova' as OVF
   VERBOSE: COT.vm_description     Temporary directory for VM created from tiny-orig.ova: /tmp/cotQ4ZozL
   VERBOSE: COT.ovf.ovf            Untarring tiny-orig.ova to working directory /tmp/cotQ4ZozL
   VERBOSE: COT.ovf.ovf            Extracted OVF descriptor from tiny-orig.ova to working dir /tmp/cotQ4ZozL
   VERBOSE: COT.ovf.ovf            Root namespace is http://schemas.dmtf.org/ovf/envelope/1
     INFO: COT.ovf.ovf            OVF version is 1.x
   VERBOSE: COT.ovf.ovf            Current configuration profiles are: []
   VERBOSE: COT.ovf.hardware       OVF contains 10 hardware Item elements describing 10 unique devices
     INFO: COT.ovf.ovf            OVF product class None --> platform GenericPlatform
   tiny-orig.ova configuration 'None' defines only 0 serial ports, but you have given connection information for 1 ports.
   Continue to create additional ports? [y] y
   INFO: COT.deploy_esxi        Deploying VM...
   VERBOSE: COT.helpers.helper     Checking for helper executable ovftool
   VERBOSE: COT.helpers.helper     ovftool is at /usr/bin/ovftool
     INFO: COT.helpers.helper     Calling 'ovftool --net:External-VM-Network=PG_RED --name=my_tiny --datastore=datastore1 tiny-orig.ova vi://jeffl:pass123@10.10.120.150/DC1/host/host1'...
   Opening OVA source: tiny-orig.ova
   The manifest validates
   Opening VI target: vi://jeffl@10.10.120.150:443/DC1/host/host1
   Deploying to VI: vi://jeffl@10.10.120.150:443/DC1/host/host1
   Transfer Completed
   Completed successfully
   INFO: COT.helpers.helper     ...done
   (venv)jeffl@ubuntu:~/development/cot-testing$
   

3. Examine vcenter to see if the newly created VM includes a serial port. In my case, it does not.

Workaround:
Add serial port to OVF via cot edit-hardware before running cot deploy.

Comments:
It appears as though fixup_serial_ports() isn't called in deploy_esxi.py:374 if serial_count[self.configuration] is zero. This makes me wonder if what I am seeing is expected behavior. I can't tell if the pyvomi code is modifying an existing serial port or adding a new one.

By the way, this is fantastic software and I appreciate your sharing it.

[glennmatthews]

Thanks for the bug report and for the very detailed analysis! You've correctly identified the root cause and I'm now working on a fix for this issue.

[glennmatthews]

Fixed in COT 1.7.1.