Unable to connect to the Converter helper server on the destination virtual machine P2V LINUX

[nicholas556]

Hello! I am using Vcenter Converter Standalone (6.2.0-build8466193) to convert a Oracle Linux server to a VM. I've already checked the ports that needs to be avaiable (TCP/UDP:22;443;902;903;137;138), logging with root via ssh works fine. I manually provided a static IP to the Vm helper, since i don't have a DHCP (IP is in the same network of the default gateway of linux server). When it starts, the process fail at 1%, with 6 min. with "Error: Unable to obtain the IP address of the destination virtual machine running the Converter helper server". I've already checked the IP that was set at VM Helper, and i can't figure out what is going on. I've checked the logs and got this:

 

2021-10-24T19:30:45.925-03:00 info vmware-converter-worker[13288] [Originator@6876 sub=task-2] Reusing existing VIM connection to <host>
2021-10-24T19:31:28.503-03:00 info vmware-converter-worker[13288] [Originator@6876 sub=task-2] Reusing existing VIM connection to <host>
2021-10-24T19:31:30.127-03:00 info vmware-converter-worker[13288] [Originator@6876 sub=task-2] successfully sent client thumbprint to helper: FA:03:F7:D0:E5:43:5E:DB:3F:7C:07:2D:BE:63:EF:3A:86:38:1A:A0
2021-10-24T19:31:31.140-03:00 info vmware-converter-worker[13288] [Originator@6876 sub=task-2] could not get the server certificate thumbprint. Will retry 299 times...
2021-10-24T19:31:32.151-03:00 info vmware-converter-worker[13288] [Originator@6876 sub=task-2] could not get the server certificate thumbprint. Will retry 298 times...
2021-10-24T19:31:33.165-03:00 info vmware-converter-worker[13288] [Originator@6876 sub=task-2] could not get the server certificate thumbprint. Will retry 297 times...
2021-10-24T19:31:34.181-03:00 info vmware-converter-worker[13288] [Originator@6876 sub=task-2] could not get the server certificate thumbprint. Will retry 296 times...
2021-10-24T19:31:35.190-03:00 info vmware-converter-worker[13288] [Originator@6876 sub=task-2] could not get the server certificate thumbprint. Will retry 295 times...
2021-10-24T19:31:36.216-03:00 info vmware-converter-worker[13288] [Originator@6876 sub=task-2] could not get the server certificate thumbprint. Will retry 294 times...
2021-10-24T19:31:37.225-03:00 info vmware-converter-worker[13288] [Originator@6876 sub=task-2] could not get the server certificate thumbprint. Will retry 293 times...
2021-10-24T19:31:38.235-03:00 info vmware-converter-worker[13288] [Originator@6876 sub=task-2] could not get the server certificate thumbprint. Will retry 292 times...
2021-10-24T19:31:38.241-03:00 info vmware-converter-worker[13288] [Originator@6876 sub=task-2] got server thumbprint from helper: 00:F1:54:82:0F:59:99:56:23:5B:45:8D:F3:F7:1E:3C:BD:DA:93:35
2021-10-24T19:31:38.241-03:00 info vmware-converter-worker[13288] [Originator@6876 sub=task-2] Reusing existing VIM connection to <host>
2021-10-24T19:36:42.622-03:00 error vmware-converter-worker[13288] [Originator@6876 sub=task-2] Unable to get IP address from GuestInfo before we exhausted our retry attempts
2021-10-24T19:36:42.622-03:00 error vmware-converter-worker[13288] [Originator@6876 sub=task-2] TaskImpl has failed with MethodFault::Exception: converter.fault.HelperVmFailedToObtainIpFault
2021-10-24T19:36:42.622-03:00 info vmware-converter-worker[13288] [Originator@6876 sub=task-2] Volume-based cloning 10.1.1.221 --> <destinyhost>updates, state: 4, percentage: 0, xfer rate (Bps): <unknown>
2021-10-24T19:36:42.626-03:00 error vmware-converter-worker[13288] [Originator@6876 sub=task-2] Failed to perform PostDoRun task in Linux P2V while retrieving the log bundle: helper connection or task hasn't been created
2021-10-24T19:36:42.626-03:00 info vmware-converter-worker[13288] [Originator@6876 sub=task-2] powering off vm after linux p2v ..

[fabio1975]

Ciao 

have you tried to access the helper VM?

in the past, I needed to access the VM Helper to check for a communication problem (in my case the VM did not have the gateway configured correctly).
To access the VM Helper I used this KB (it is for a previous version of Converter):

Enabling Logging in to Helper Virtual Machine During Conversion of Powered-On Linux Sources with Converter Standalone 4.3.x and 5.x (1036746) (vmware.com)

if it works you can access the VM-Helper in the console and check if it has network problems.

[nicholas556]

That helped a lot. I figured out that was a problem in the interface eth0. It's solved but now got an error at 3% 

FAILED: A general system error occurred:

Network error. Host <IP> key can't be retrieved. (return code 2)

[fabio1975]

CIao 

Check, /etc/hosts.allow and /etc/hosts.deny on the machine to be virtualize. It is possible that they are configured to deny access to the subnet that your ESXi server is on.

 

Fabio

[nicholas556]

I've checked that. It's all blank but i've done: 

sudo echo "ALL:ALL" >> /etc/hosts.allow

service network restart

Still no luck, same error. Also checked again the firewall and looks ok

 

Edit: I solved this problem by setting in the converter an IP address of the same subnet of the source vm and vCenter. Worked fine. Thanks a lot!

[Jose Camacho]

Excuse me, could you please let me know how you manually assigned the IP address? I already ran the commands you provided, and I'm now able to access the helper machine's console, but I don't know how to assign the IP manually, since the system is not assigning it even though I set it as the helper VM IP in the wizard.