“The OVF package is invalid and cannot be deployed.
The following manifest file entry (line 1) is invalid: SHA256 (xxxxxxx.ovf).”
The .ova downloading from the CSC looks as showed on the following image: Downloaded file: Spirent_TestCenter_LabServer-4.91.5436.ova
Cause
According to the VMware Knowledge Base, this issue occurs because the vSphere Client does not support the SHA256 hashing algorithm. Source: https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2151537 Resolution
To resolve this issue, you must convert the OVA from the Cryptographic Hash Algorithm SHA256 to SHA1.
To do this, you can use OVFTool and run this command:
ovftool.exe --shaAlgorithm=SHA1 /path/to/the/original/ova_file.ova /path/to/the/new/ova/file-SHA1.ova
Example:
You can now use the new ova generated with SHA1 for your future deployments without experiencing any format error.