Technical Tip: VMware ESXi External Connector on FortiGate cannot retrieve networks with special characters in their names
| Description | This article describes an expected behavior with the VMware ESXi External Fabric Connector on the FortiGate where it retrieves some (but not all) networks from VMware vSphere due to naming restrictions. |
| Scope | FortiGate. |
| Solution | As a primer, the VMware ESXi connector on the FortiGate can be used to import and maintain the list of software-defined networks (SDN) from VMware ESXi/vSphere as dynamic address objects on the FortiGate.
However, one key issue is that VMware allows these networks to be named using special characters, whereas on the FortiGate, special characters (such as '< > ( ) #', as well as single and double quotes) are not allowed to be used in the naming of objects. Because of this, the FortiGate will still be able to import some of the total list of network entries but will be unable to import entries that have special characters in their name.
Workaround: To workaround/resolve this issue, rename the networks in VMware so that they no longer include the disallowed characters mentioned above. Refer to the following KB article for further info regarding the naming rules/restrictions that exist on the FortiGate: Technical Tip: Naming rules and character restrictions.
Once the networks are renamed, the ESXi connector should be able to pull the full list of networks from VMware ESXi/vSphere and be usable on the FortiGate.
Related article: Technical Tip: Troubleshooting Address Flickering in FortiGate with VMware Connector |