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OVF Tool Guide

1. If the source contains only a single virtual machine the makeDeLtaDisks option does not yield any compression boost In this case the compress 9 option gives maximum compression VMware Inc 21 OVF Tool User Guide 22 Chunk or Split OVF Package Files Some file systems have a restriction on maximum file size For example FAT32 allows files only up to 2GB You can split the OVF files from a generated package into pieces of a specified maximum size The default measurement is megabytes keyword mb You can specify other units using one of the following keywords Unit Keyword Bytes b Kilobytes kb Gigabytes gb For example to create an OVF package optimized for a FAT32 file system use the following command gt ovftool chunkSize 2gb lt source gt package ovf Each file chunk has a sequentially numbered suffix For example for a 6GB disk the chunks have these names disk1 vmdk 000000000 disk1 vmdk 000000001 disk1 vmdk 000000002 Validate an OVF 1 0 Descriptor If you are generating OVF 1 0 descriptors manually you can check whether the descriptors comply with the OVF 1 0 The following examples show how to validate descriptors ovftool schemaValidate package ovf ovftool schemaValidate package ova ovftool schemaValidate http example com folder1 package ovf ovftool schemaValidate http example com folder1 package ova VNV N If everything is correct OVF Tool outputs the result of probing the OVF
2. Binary option name n N A All Specifies the target name Defaults to the source name net OVF N A Sets a network assignment in the deployed OVF OVA package For example net lt OVF name gt lt target name gt OVF packages contain symbolic names for network names which are assigned with this option For multiple network mappings repeat the option separating them with a blank for example net s1 t1 net s2 t2 net s3 t3 VMware Inc Table 4 OVF Tool Command Line Options Continued Using VMware OVF Tool Option Relevant Relevant Short Source Target Option Long Name Name Types Types Description network nw OVF N A Target network for a vSphere deployment OVA Use this option in place of the net option when only one network exists in the OVF package This option maps the symbolic OVF name to the specified network name overwrite 0 N A All Forces overwrite of existing files Binary option power0ffSource VI N A Ensures that a virtual machine or vApp is powered off before importing from a VI source Binary option power0ffTarget N A VI Ensures that a virtual machine or vApp is powered off before overwriting a VI target Binary option power0n N A VI Powers on a virtual machine or vApp deployed on a VI target Binary option privateKey N A OVF Signs the OVF package with the given private OVA key pem file The fi
3. a VMX To convert an OVF package to a file in VMware format type a command like the following gt ovftool http ww mycompany com ovflib BigDemo ovf x myvms BigDemo vmx Because the source is an OVF package you can specify it as a URL or a local file path If you convert an OVF package to a VMX file without specifying the target directory OVF Tool creates a directory using the OVF package name and writes the VMX file in it gt ovftool Windows 7 ovf The VMX file is written at Windows 7 Windows 7 vmx VMware Inc Using VMware OVF Tool Convert VMX to a VI You can convert any VI or VMX source to any VI or VMX target format without an intermediate OVF conversion The following example uses OVF Tool to directly convert a VMX file to a VI file without first doing a VMX to OVF conversion and then an OVF to VI conversion gt ovftool Nostaliga vmx vi user pwd host Datacenter host host1 foo com Deploy an OVF Package Directly on an ESX Host The following command deploys an OVF package on an ESX host gt ovftool package ovf vi my esx machine example com Deploy an OVF Package and Power It On OVF Tool can power on a virtual machine or vApp after deployment This action can be done on all supported platforms The following example powers on the virtual machine or vApp to a particular host through vCenter Server gt ovftool powerOn package ovf vi MyvCenterServer dns fast esx host1 exampLe com Exp
4. and lt target locator gt are the paths to the source and target for the virtual machine OVF package OVA package or VI location See Command Line Options on page 13 for the various options If you want to specify additional options type them before the source and target locators ovftool lt options gt lt source locator gt lt target locator gt To display all options type ovftool h Probe mode allows you to investigate the contents of a source To invoke probe mode use the ovftool command with only a source and no target ovftool lt options gt lt source locator gt OVF Tool prints information about the source such as hardware EULAs and OVF properties VMware Inc Using VMware OVF Tool Use probe mode to examine an OVF package before deploying it For example you can examine the download and deployment sizes determine the set of networks to be mapped determine the OVF properties to be configured read the EULA and determine the virtual hardware requirements OVF Tool must access only the OVF descriptor to display this information so the operation does not require the entire OVA or VMDK files to be downloaded Probe mode also validates the certificate if the source is signed For more information about Probe Mode and an example of the output see Probe Mode on page 24 Table 3 describes the source and target locators For more information see Specifying a Locator on page 16 Command Line Options
5. target is an OVF package m Ifthe source is a VI locator and the target locator is a directory OVF Tool assumes that the target is an OVF package OVF Tool supports partial VI locators when deploying or exporting For an incomplete locator path the tool suggests completions at the command line Example 1 shows the command line dialog when partial locators are used Example 1 Partial Locators at the Command Line gt ovftool LAMP ovf vi localhost Opening source LAMP ovf Opening target vi user localhost Error Found wrong kind of object Folder Possible completions are Datacenter Remote Datacenter Secondary Datacenter gt ovftool LAMP ovf vi localhost Datacenter Opening source LAMP ovf Opening target vi user localhost Datacenter Error Found wrong kind of object Datacenter Possible completions are vm host gt ovftool LAMP ovf vi localhost Datacenter host Opening source LAMP ovf Opening target vi user locaLhost Datacenter host Error Found wrong kind of object Folder Possible completions are host1 foo com host2 foo com gt ovftool LAMP ovf vi lLocalhost Datacenter vm host1 foo com VMware Inc 19 OVF Tool User Guide Configuration Files OVF Tool has many options Rather than repeatedly entering long commands on the command line you can create a configuration file A configuration file uses the following syntax optionl value comment optionN value The follo
6. use for files in a OVA generated OVF package Default is not to chunk When using this option all output files except the OVF descriptor manifest and certificate files are sliced into the specified chunk size This is useful if you need to transport an OVF package on a series of 800MB CD ROMs or are only able to create files up to 2GB on FAT32 file systems Chunking combined with an OVA package as output makes an OVA in which all the files are chunked like for the OVF package but the OVA package itself is still be a single file compress N A OVF Compresses the disk when given an OVF or OVA OVA target locator The value must be between 1 and 9 The fastest is 1 but gives the worst compression The slowest is 9 but gives the best compression VMware Inc 13 OVF Tool User Guide 14 Table 4 OVF Tool Command Line Options Continued Option Relevant Relevant Short Source Target Option Long Name Name Types Types Description datastore ds N A VI Target datastore name for a VI or vSphere deployment deploymentOption OVF N A Deployment options for a deployed OVF OVA package An OVF package can contain several deployment configurations This option allows you to select which configuration to use when deploying to the VI target disableVerification OVE N A Skips validation of signature and certificate OVA Binary option diskMode dm N A VMX VI Selects t
7. App into an ESX host using VI Client 2 5 Click File gt Virtual Appliance gt Import For example to export a virtual machine to an OVF file using VI Client 2 5 Click File gt Virtual Appliance gt Export OVF packages imported or exported by OVF Tool are completely compatible with packages imported or exported by the vSphere Client or the VI Client Space Requirements of OVF Packages A virtual machine is stored as a set of files on disk In the VMware runtime format these files have extensions vmx vmdk vmsd vmxf and nvram The VMware hypervisor requires these file formats which are optimized for efficient execution An ESX host often uses fully allocated flat disks ina VMFS file system to optimize virtual machine performance OVF supports efficient secure distribution of vApps and virtual machine templates OVF is optimized for these goals rather than for efficient runtime execution OVF does not include specific information on runtime disk format because such information is not required until the virtual machine is deployed When you package appliances with OVF you can optimize one vApp for high performance in a production environment and optimize another for minimal storage space during evaluation Table contrasts a virtual machine in VMware file format with a virtual machine in OVF format OVF employs a compressed sparse format for VMDK files Virtual disks in that format cannot be used directly for execution without con
8. BAgI JAKgUiZPOaj COMAQGCSqGSIb3DQEBBAUAMFYxCzAJBgNV BAYTAKRLMRMwEQYDVOQIEwpTb21 LLVNOYXRLMQ8wDQYDVQQHEWZBYXJodXMxITAf To display the contents of a pem file at the command line type the following gt openssL x509 text noout in lt filename gt pem Certificate Data Version 3 0x2 Serial Number VMware Inc 25 OVF Tool User Guide To create a trusted certificate use the OpenSSL command omitting the x509 option This creates a certificate request in a pem file that you can send to any public authority such as Verisign Signing an OVF Package Signing an OVF package enables the person deploying it to validate the authenticity of the OVF package Once the package is signed OVF package files cannot be changed without invalidating the signature When a package comes from a trusted source and has a valid OVF signature you can deploy the package knowing it has not been tampered with Signing an OVF package requires a pem file that contains a private key and a certificate as shown in section Creating an RSA Public Private Key Pair and Certificate on page 25 To sign a generated OVF package include the privateKey option The option syntax is shown in the following example gt ovftool privateKey lt path to pem file gt lt source gt lt output OVF or OVA file gt When this option is used OVF Tool uses the private key and certificate to generate a signature based on the SHAI digest of each file
9. For every command you specify the source and target locators Table 3 defines each locator type Table 3 OVF Tool Definitions of Source and Target Locators Locator Definition lt source locator gt Path to the source which must be either a virtual machine vApp or an OVF package The source locator can be one of the following m A path to an OVF or OVA file a local file path or an HTTP HTTPS or FTP URL m A virtual machine a local file path to a vmx file m A VI locator identifying a virtual machine or vApp on vCenter ESX or VMware Server lt target locator gt The target locator can be one of the following m A local file path for VMX OVF or OVA m A VI locator identifying a cluster host or a vSphere location Table 4 shows all the command line options Options perform actions only between certain source and target types Table 4 shows which source and target types each option works with If you specify an option using an irrelevant source or target type the command does nothing All options can be set using the form option value Binary options can be enabled or disabled explicitly For example option true option false Table 4 OVF Tool Command Line Options Option Relevant Relevant Short Source Target Option Long Name Name Types Types Description acceptALlEulas OVF N A Accept all EULAs without being prompted OVA Binary option chunkSize N A OVF Specifies the chunk size to
10. HTTPS and FTP Locators 17 VI Locators 17 Specifying the Inventory Path to a Virtual Machine or vApp 18 Specifying the Inventory Path for a Cluster Host or Resource Pool 18 Partial Locators 18 Configuration Files 20 Examples of Using VMware OVF Tool Usage 20 Convert a VMX to an OVF 20 Convert a VMX toan OVA 20 Convert an OVF toa VMX 20 Convert VMX toa VI 21 Deploy an OVF Package Directly on an ESX Host 21 Deploy an OVF Package and Power ItOn 21 Export a Running Virtual Machine or vApp from VI 21 Rename the OVF Package 21 Omit Disks in the VMware OVF Tool Output 21 Compress an OVF Package 21 Chunk or Split OVF Package Files 22 Validate an OVF 1 0 Descriptor 22 Download an OVF Package from a Protected Web Site 22 Use a Proxy 22 Overwrite a Running Virtual Machine or vApp from VI 23 Set OVF Properties When Deploying to vSphere 23 Set OVF Network Mappings When Deploying to vSphere 23 Obtain Progress Feedback from VMware OVF Tool 23 Cancel VMware OVF Tool While it Is Running 23 Probe Mode 24 VMware Inc OVF Tool User Guide Appendix OVF Package Signing 25 Creating an RSA Public Private Key Pair and Certificate 25 Signing an OVF Package 26 Validating an OVF Package 26 Index 27 VMware Inc About This Book This OVF Tool User Guide provides information about how to use VMware OVE Tool to package virtual machines and vApps into Open Virtualization Format OVF standard packages Intended Audience This book is intended for a
11. OVF Tool User Guide VMware OVF Tool 1 0 EN 000143 00 vmware OVF Tool User Guide You can find the most up to date technical documentation on the VMware Web site at http www vmware com support The VMware Web site also provides the latest product updates If you have comments about this documentation submit your feedback to docfeedback vmware com 2009 VMware Inc All rights reserved This product is protected by U S and international copyright and intellectual property laws VMware products are covered by one or more patents listed at http www vmware com go patents VMware the VMware boxes logo and design Virtual SMP and VMotion are registered trademarks or trademarks of VMware Inc in the United States and or other jurisdictions All other marks and names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective companies VMware Inc 3401 Hillview Ave Palo Alto CA 94304 www vmware com 2 VMware Inc Contents About This Book 5 Using VMware OVF Tool 7 About VMware OVF Tool 7 Features Highlights 7 OVF Standard 8 Benefits of OVF 8 VMware Platforms Using OVF 8 Space Requirements of OVF Packages 9 VMware OVF Tool Delta Disk Facilities 9 Supported Operating Systems 10 Installing VMware OVF Tool 11 Linux Installation Details 11 Windows Installation Details 11 Running OVF Tool After Installation 12 Using VMware OVF Tool 12 Command Line Options 13 Specifying a Locator 16 File Locators 16 HTTP
12. OVF Tool exe Install using the method for your operating system Operating System Installation Method Linux 32 bit Run the shell script as VMware OVF Tool sh Linux 64 bit Run the shell script as VMware OVF Tool x86_64 sh Windows 32 bit Double click on the installer VMware OVF Tool exe Linux Installation Details To install VMware OVF Tool on a Linux machine 1 Download the installer script VMware OVF Tool1 sh for 32 bit or VMware OVF Too1 x86_64 sh for 64 bit You must download the script as a binary file otherwise the install script fails Make the script executable chmod x VMware OVF Tool sh Run the installer script VMware OVF Tool sh The script is interactive and prompts for the EULA and installation directory Windows Installation Details The following are screen by screen instructions for a Windows 32 bit installation 1 2 3 4 VMware Inc At the Welcome screen click Next At the license agreement read the license agreements select I agree and click Next Accept the path suggested or change to a path of your choice and click Next When you have finished choosing your installation options click Install When the installation is complete click Next Deselect Show the readme file if you do not want to view the readme file and click Finish to exit 11 OVF Tool User Guide Running OVF Tool After Installation After installing OVF Tools on Windows you can run OVF Tool
13. Otherwise a list of warnings and errors is shown IMPORTANT Being compliant with the OVF 1 0 schema is only part of the requirements for being a valid OVF package The schema validation does not check for all the requirements specified in the OVF 1 0 specification Download an OVF Package from a Protected Web Site OVF Tool can read sources given by a URL using both HTTP and HTTPS You access it with the user name and password The following example downloads the LAMP OVF package and puts it in an OVA package gt ovftool https user pass exampLe com repository ovf LAMP ovf LAMP ova If you omit the user name and password in which case OVF Tool prompts you for them Use a Proxy You can specify a proxy for OVF Tool The following examples show the use of the proxy option gt ovftool proxy proxy exampLle com http external site com ovf package ovf gt ovftool proxy http proxy example com http external site com ovf package ovf OVF Tool allows proxies that require authentication Credentials are supplied in the proxy path as shown in the following example gt ovftool proxy user pass proxy example com http external site com ovf package ovf You can omit the username and password for a proxy server that requires authentication OVF Tool prompts for them VMware Inc Using VMware OVF Tool Overwrite a Running Virtual Machine or vApp from VI VMware OVF Tool supports overwriting existing targets I
14. TTERMA8GA1UEAXMIS3J pc3RpYW4xITAFBgkqhkiG9wOBCQEWEmtsYXNzZW5Adm13 YXILLmNvbYIJAKDgFLg9WvBwMAwGA1UdEwQFMAMBA f 8wDQY J KoZIhvcNAQEFBQAD gYEANaGNxv4QrN7i10rDCordYDh1G7Z3j 128ntSoxehGmz6ghYAfBNhTVhWUZuX9X UXKn8QLtOF Ynijuo6ITIJwO 5V106TAaCmFahDW OmO2AXPdSbw4UQdidGmmgrAs DYVQz2CNPk2YbkXITNeGBNHomT qsVU7MGDj Reu96 V602zY Validating an OVF Package If an OVF certificate file is present OVF Tool always verifies if the signature fits the SHA1 digest of the files in 26 the package and tests the authenticity of the certificate To quickly validate the authenticity of an OVF package use the probe mode as shown in the following example gt ovftool signed package ovf VMware Inc Index B benefits of OVF 8 C command line running OVF Tool from 12 command line options 13 compress 9 compression 9 configuration files 20 D delta disk compression introduction 9 limitations 10 download file names 11 E examples cancelling OVF Tool while running 23 chunking 22 convert ovf to vmx 20 convert vmx to ova 20 convert vmx to ovf 20 convert source to target 21 deploying and powering on 21 deploying OVF package 21 downloading from a protected site 22 exporting a running virtual machine or vApp 21 maximum compression 21 obtaining progress feedback 23 omitting disks in output 21 overwriting a running virtual machine or vApp 23 probe mode 24 renaming the OVF package 21 setting OVF network mappings 23 setting OVF p
15. VA ova File HTTP HTTPS FTP VMX VMX File VI N A VI Table 6 Target Locator Target Type File Extension Protocol OVF ovf File OVA ova File VMX VMX File Source must be a single virtual machine VI N A VI If the VI target locator is on a VMware Server system or directly on an ESX host the source must be a single virtual machine File Locators File locators are the same for source and target They are specified using ordinary path syntax Windows Path Syntax On Windows paths are specified as either absolute or relative This is an example of an absolute path on Windows C folder1 folder2 package ovf These examples show relative paths on Windows folder1 packagel ovf packagel ovf Linux Path Syntax On Linux paths are specified similarly as either absolute or relative The following is an example of an absolute path on Linux folder1 folder2 package ovf The following are examples of relative paths on Linux folder1 packagel ovf packagel ovf 16 VMware Inc Using VMware OVF Tool Using URIs as Locators It is possible to specify file locations as a URI by prefixing the path with file as shown in the following examples file c folderl folder2 package ovf Absolute Windows file folder1 folder2 package ovf Absolute Linux file package ovf Relative for both Windows and Linux HTTP HTTPS and FTP Locators You can use HTTP HTTPS and FTP to refer to an OVF pa
16. a based OVF Tool that was experimental OVF Tool supports OVF version 1 0 and is backward compatible with OVF 0 9 that was supported by the Java based OVF Tool VirtualCenter 2 5 and VMware ESX 3 5 OVF Tool 1 0 allows you to script OVF import and export on products such as VMware vCenter 4 0 VirtualCenter 2 5 and later ESX 3 5 and later VMware Server 2 0 and later and VMware Workstation 6 0 and later Features Highlights OVF Tool 1 0 provides the following key features m Includes full OVF 1 0 support and backward compatible mode for importing existing OVF 0 9 packages m Supports both import and generation of OVA packages OVA is the portable virtual machine format from XenSource m Directly converts between any VI VMX or OVF source format to any VI VMX or OVF target format m Accesses OVF sources using HTTP HTTPS or FTP or from a local file m Deploys and exports vApp configurations on vSphere 4 targets m Provides options to power on a VM or vApp after deployment and to power off a virtual machine or vApp before exporting caution advised m Show information about the content of any source in probe mode m Provides context sensitive error messages for vSphere sources and targets showing possible completions for common errors such as an incomplete vCenter inventory path or missing datastore and network mappings VMware Inc 7 OVF Tool User Guide m Provides an optional output format to support scripting when anothe
17. arget disk format Common formats are monoLithicSparse monolithicFlat twoGbMaxExtentSparse twoGbMaxExtentF Lat streamOptimized thin VI target thick VI target eula N A OVF Inserts the EULA in the first virtual system or OVA virtual system collection in the OVF If the EULA is in a file use the following option format eulaG filename help h N A N A Prints the VMware OVF Tool help message with usage information hideEula OVF N A Does not include the EULA in the probe output OVA Binary option ipAllocationPolicy OVF N A IP allocation policy for a deployed OVF package OVA Supported values are fixed transient and dhcp In OVF descriptors you can specify a VMware specific IP assignment policy that guides the deployment process by expressing which of the policies the OVF package supports Only values listed in the OVF descriptor are supported when the OVF or OVA package is deployed ipProtocol OVF N A Selects the IP protocol to use For example IPv4 OVA IPv6 As with the ipAllocationPolicy option you can specify which IP version this OVF package uses when it is deployed Use only the values listed in the OVF descriptor locale OVF N A Selects the locale for the target OVA machineOutput N A N A Outputs OVF Tool messages in a machine readable format Binary option makeDeltaDisks OVE VI Must be Use delta disk compression to create an OVF VMX directory package from a disk source
18. be configured when you deploy it To use the probe feature omit the target locator when invoking OVF Tool For example at the command line type ovftool LAMP ovf The tool displays all available information about the LAMP ovf When probe mode is used on an OVF or OVA package OVF Tool also validates the certificate file if present As part of the information displayed in probe mode the EULA is displayed by default To prevent the EULA from displaying use the hideEula option gt ovftool hideEula LAMP ovf The following example shows the result of probing the LAMP ovf OVF version 1 0 Name LAMP running PHP Fusion Version 0 1 Vendor VMware Aarhus Product URL http example com ovf 1 0 LAMP readme txt Annotation This vApp offers the programming environment stack Linux Apache MySQL and PHP prgramming environmnent LAMP More specifically the vApp contains a database server running MySQL and a Web server VM running Apache2 and PHP End user License Agreements Present Yes 1 Download Size 604 07 MB Deployment Sizes Flat disks 16 00 GB Sparse disks Unknown Networks Name VM Network Description The VM Network network Virtual Hardware Family vmx 04 Disk Types SCSI 1Lsilogic Properties Key db ip Label IP address Type ip VM Network Description The IP address of the database server Key ws ip Label IP address Type ip VM Network Description The IP address of the Web s
19. ckage OVF or OVA file on a Web server You can only use these protocols to specify a source locator In the following syntax protocol is HTTP HTTPS or FTP protocol username password host port lt path to OVF package gt Itis possible to omit the user name and password from the locator If needed OVF Tool prompts you for them If you use the standard port it is not necessary to specify the port Table 7 shows the standard ports Table 7 Standard Ports Protocol Port HTTP 80 HTTPS 443 FTP 21 VI Locators VI source locators point to a virtual machine or vApp within the virtual infrastructure The VI target locator provides all required information for importing an OVF package or virtual machine into a cluster host or resource pool Both source and target locator use the same syntax vi lt username gt lt password gt lt host gt lt port gt lt search term gt The server name and port can designate either a vCenter server VirtualCenter server VMware Server or an ESX host If you omit credentials in which case OVF Tool prompts you for them Default installations of vCenter Server VirtualCenter and ESX use port 443 If you are using the default port you do not need to specify it When using OVF Tool against a VMware Server you must explicitly specify port 8333 which is the default port for VMware Server The search term has the following format lt path gt lt query gt lt va Lue gt If a query is
20. e tools Courses are available onsite in the classroom and live online For onsite pilot programs and implementation best practices VMware Consulting Services provides offerings to help you assess plan build and manage your virtual environment To access information about education classes certification programs and consulting services go to http www vmware com services VMware Inc 5 OVF Tool User Guide 6 VMware Inc Using VMware OVF Tool Open Virtualization Format OVF is an industry standard that describes metadata about virtual machine images in XML format VMware OVF Tool is a command line utility that enables a user to import and export OVF packages to and from a wide variety of VMware products This guide contains the following topics m About VMware OVF Tool on page 7 m Installing VMware OVF Tool on page 11 m Using VMware OVF Tool on page 12 m Examples of Using VMware OVF Tool Usage on page 20 About VMware OVF Tool You can use OVF Tool to distribute and import virtual machines and vApps For example you can create a virtual machine within VMware vSphere and use OVF Tool to export it into an OVF package for installation either within your organization or for distribution to other organizations OVF facilitates the use of vApps which consist of preconfigured virtual machines that package applications with the operating system that they require OVF Tool 1 0 replaces an earlier Jav
21. erver IP Allocation Policy Schemes ovfenv dhcp Protocols IPv4 VMware Inc Appendix OVF Package Signing A valid OVF signature requires two special files a manifest m file that contains the SHA1 hash codes of all the files in the package except the mf and cert files and a certificate file cert that contains the signed SHA1 of the manifest file and the X 509 encoded certificate This appendix specifies how to use OpenSSL and VMware OVF Tools commands to sign and validate OVF packages This appendix contains the following topics m Creating an RSA Public Private Key Pair and Certificate on page 25 m Signing an OVF Package on page 26 m Validating an OVF Package on page 26 Creating an RSA Public Private Key Pair and Certificate To sign a package a public private key pair and certificate that wraps the public key is required The private key and the certificate which includes the public key is stored ina pem file The following OpenSSL command creates a pem file gt openssl req x509 nodes shal days 365 newkey rsa 1024 keyout myself pem out myself pem NOTE No password is necessary To include a password remove the nodes option Example A 1 shows the contents of the myself pem file Example A 1 Myself pem File Contents MIICXAIBAAKBgQDeOdCCKNf045 D0ezGGAUVSbhE8buqFCQnQnfi27Wt6bu4DhcE bOQtjgfzuEpcl4e31txJcul8XTv4icRL74DP7i2pMN2UVj 6DZW B7jIw4UPG2g96f MIICSDCCAk2gAWI
22. ess that the target is OVF OVA VMX or VI version V N A N A Shows version information for OVF Tool Binary option vmFolder vf N A VI The target virtual machine folder in VI inventory for a datacenter VMware Inc 15 OVF Tool User Guide Specifying a Locator A source or target locator points to some resource Locators must specify a protocol which defines how to reach the resource Supported protocols are file access VI HTTP HTTPS and FTP File locators can point to an OVF package ovf or ova or a virtual machine vmx HTTP HTTPS and FTP locators can point to OVF and OVA files The resource type is determined from the filename suffix unless one or both of the options sourceType and targetType are used explicitly VI locators can point to various resource types virtual machines vApps hosts clusters or resource pools For a source locator the resource type must be a virtual machine or vApp For a target locator the resource type must be a host cluster or a resource pool A VI locator is used for a vSphere server vCenter Server VMware Server or an ESX host At the command line type help Locators to display the online help for locators Table 5 and Table 6 list the default extensions of the different source and target types as well as which protocols are supported Table 5 Source Locator Source Type Default File Extension Protocol OVF ovf File HTTP HTTPS FTP O
23. f a target virtual machine or vApp has the same name as the source OVF Tool overwrites the target when the overwrite option is specified If the target virtual machine or vApp is running OVF Tool cannot overwrite it OVF Tool does not automatically power off the target To power off the target before overwriting it use the powerOffTarget option gt ovftool overwrite powerOffTarget package ovf vi Localhost dns production host example com You can also power on the newly written virtual machine or vApp at the same time In the following example the target machine is powered off and deleted the package ovf is imported and the imported virtual machine or vApp is powered on gt ovftool overwrite powerOffTarget powerOn package ovf vi Localhost dns production host example com Set OVF Properties When Deploying to vSphere OVF descriptors can contain configuration properties for the deployed OVF package You can set only one property at a time but you can have multiple instances of the option per command The property option has the following syntax prop lt option gt lt vaLue gt The following example sets two properties the administrator s email address and the number of concurrent sessions gt ovftool prop adminEmail john example com prop concurrentSessions 200 package ovf vi Localhost dns fast esx host1 example com Set OVF Network Mappings When Deploying to vSphere OVF descriptors can u
24. from a DOS prompt To run OVF Tool from a DOS Prompt 1 From the Start menu click Run Start gt Run In the Run dialog write cmd which opens a DOS prompt cmd If you have the OVF Tool folder in your Path environment variable you can run OVF Tool at the command line For instructions on running the utility see Using VMware OVF Tool on page 12 To add VMware OVF Tool to your Path environment variable The following instructions are for Windows XP but it is done similarly on other Windows systems 1 2 3 4 5 Right click My Computer Select properties Select Advanced Select Environment Variables Find the system variable called Path and add the OVF Tool install directory by selecting the variable click Edit and adding the text For example the path might be the following 3C Program Files VMware VMware OVF Tool The leading semi colon is necessary to append the OVF Tool path to the existing path variable Using VMware OVF Tool VMware OVF Tool is a command line utility that supports importing and exporting of OVF packages from ESX hosts and other VMware products A VI location refers to any location on a VMware product such as vSphere VMware Server or ESX This section describes how to run and select OVF Tool options 12 To run VMware OVF Tool from the command line 1 At the command line prompt run the OVF Tool ovftool lt source locator gt lt target locator gt where lt source locator gt
25. le must contain a private key and a certificate privateKeyPassword N A OVF Password for the private key Used in conjunction OVA with privateKey if the private key requires password authentication If required but not specified the tool prompts for the password prop OVF N A Sets a property in the deployed OVF package OVA For example prop lt key gt lt value gt Use probe mode to learn which properties an OVF package can set For multiple property mappings repeat the option separating them with a blank for example prop p1 v1 prop p2 v2 prop p3 v3 proxy OVF OVF Proxy used for HTTP HTTPS FTP and VI access OVA VI OVA VI The proxy is expressed as the URL to the proxy For example for proxy example com the option value is https proxy example com 345 OVF Tool supports proxies that require authentication If you do not provide credentials in the URL OVF Tool prompts for them quiet q N A N A Prints no output to the screen except for errors Binary option schemaValidate OVF N A Validates OVF descriptor against the OVF OVA schema Binary option skipManifestCheck OVE N A Skips validation of the OVF package manifest OVA Binary option skipManifestGeneration N A OVF Skips generation of the OVF package manifest OVA Binary option sourceType st All All Explicitly expresses that the source is OVF OVA VMX or VI targetType tt All All Explicitly expr
26. ndows operating systems supported 10 VMware Inc
27. not given a VC inventory path lookup is performed using the specified path Otherwise the object matching the query is used The meaning of the query depends on the object type Table 8 shows the different values that you can use in the query field Table 8 Source and Target Values for All Query Types Name Query Source Target BIOS bios BIOS ID of a virtual machine BIOS ID of a host Datastore ds Datastore path to a virtual machine N A IP Address ip IP address of a virtual machine IP address of a host DNS dns DNS name of a virtual machine DNS name of a host Mo Ref moref Managed object reference vSphere Managed object reference vSphere specific specific identifier of a virtual machine identifier of a host cluster or resource or vApp pool VMware Inc 17 OVF Tool User Guide 18 Table 9 shows example values for each query type Table 9 Examples of Query Values Name Query Example Value BIOS bios vi Localhost bios 2 34290984 Datastore ds vi Localhost TestDatacenter ds foo myvm myvm vmx IP Address ip vi LocaLhost ip 123 231 232 232 DNS dns vi LocaLhost dns production vm3 example com Mo Ref moref vi locaLlhost moref vim vm VirtualMachine vm 23423 You can enter a partial source locator if you do not know the entire inventory path In this case the tool fails but suggests possible inventory path completions Specifying the Inventory Path to a Virtual Machine or vApp To s
28. nyone who needs to convert an OVF package to a virtual machine or a virtual machine to an OVF package Users typically include people who do software development and testing or work with multiple operating systems or computing environments system administrators software developers QA engineers and anyone who wants to package or unpackage virtual machines using open industry standards Document Feedback VMware welcomes your suggestions for improving our documentation If you have comments send your feedback to docfeedback vmware com Technical Support and Education Resources The following sections describe the technical support resources available to you To access the current version of this book and other books go to http www vmware com support pubs Online and Telephone Support To use online support to submit technical support requests view your product and contract information and register your products go to http www vmware com support Customers with appropriate support contracts should use telephone support for the fastest response on priority 1 issues Go to http www vmware com support phone_support Support Offerings To find out how VMware support offerings can help meet your business needs go to http www vmware com support services VMware Professional Services VMware Education Services courses offer extensive hands on labs case study examples and course materials designed to be used as on the job referenc
29. ollowing example is of an inventory path with a specified resource pool TestDatacenter host esx host3 example com Resources SmalLResourcePool Partial Locators When using OVF Tool it is often not necessary to specify source and target types as long as certain filename conventions are used It is possible to the ignore locator type and specify the source and target explicitly using the arguments sourceType and targetType VMware Inc Using VMware OVF Tool OVF Tool assumes the locator type based on the following rules m Ifthe name starts with vi OVF Tool assumes VI type m Ifthe name ends with ovf OVF Tool assumes OVF type m If the name ends with vmx OVF Tool assumes VMX type m If the name ends with ova the OVT tool assumes OVA type Similarly source and target types can be inferred from folder locators OVF Tool assumes the type according the following rules m Ifthe source locator is a folder OVF Tool assumes that the source is an OVF package and that the OVF descriptor is called the same as the folder for example my ovf my ovf ovf m If the source is an OVF package and the target locator is a directory such as MyVirtualMachines OVF Tool assumes that the target is a VMX locator The created VMX VMDK file is put in a directory with the target name for example MyVirtualMachines MyVM MyVM vmx m If the source is a VMX locator and the target locator is a directory OVF Tool assumes that the
30. on one of the disks from the segments on the other disk In this case delta disk compression does not produce any significant disk space savings This is why the example specified cloning the Ubuntu server before installing the MySQL and Apache parts respectively m Delta disk compression takes OVF packages and vSphere and VMX files as input but not OVA packages m The delta disk compression algorithm needs to read the contents of each disk up to two times It might make sense to invoke OVF Tool on a local copy of the OVF package m The delta disk compression algorithm always generates an OVF package in the given output directory To convert this OVF package into an OVA package reinvoke OVF Tool Supported Operating Systems OVF Tool supports the operating systems shown in Table 2 Table 2 Supported Operating Systems Windows 32 bit x86 and 64 bit x86_64 Linux 32 bit x86 and 64 bit x86_64 Windows XP CentOS 5 x Windows 2003 Fedora Core 10 x Windows Vista RedHat Enterprise Linux RHEL 5 x Windows 2K8 SUSE Enterprise Server 10 x Ubuntu Desktop 9 x 10 VMware Inc Using VMware OVF Tool Installing VMware OVF Tool The VMware OVF Tool is available as an installer or ZIP file depending on the operating system To install VMware OVF Tool 1 Download VMware OVF Tool Operating System Download Filename Linux 32 bit VMware OVF Tool sh Linux 64 bit VMware OVF Tool x86_64 sh Windows 32 bit VMware
31. op of a single disk Ubuntu server The two virtual machines were created with the following process 1 Create a plain Ubuntu installation on one virtual machine 2 Clone the virtual machine 3 Install Apache on the first virtual machine 4 Install MySQL on the second virtual machine Using delta disk compression on the two virtual machine disks creates a parent disk containing all of the information they share which is essentially the entire operation system and two child disks containing the MySQL and Apache parts A plain Ubuntu server can use 400 500MB of space and two would use 800 1000MB of space By contrast using delta disk compression an OVF package with these two servers uses only 400 500MB plus the size of the MySQL and Apache installations which saves 400 500MB by not duplicating the Ubuntu server Any number of disks can be combined creating various disk trees and saving more space vSphere 4 and later support the deployment of OVF packages that contain delta disk hierarchies For delta disk compression keep in mind the following m Only disks with equal capacity can be combined If you expect to use delta disk compression you must keep disk capacities equal m Delta disk compression necessitates that segments that might be put in a parent disk are at the same offset from the beginning of their respective files In the Ubuntu example if the setup varies between the two installations it can completely offset each segment
32. ort a Running Virtual Machine or vApp from VI You must power off a virtual machine or vApp before exporting it The following example locates the virtual machine or vApp based on its DNS name through the vCenter Server and powers it off gt ovftool powerOffSource vi MyvCenterServer dns test vm test vm ova NOTE This option does not perform a shutdown where the operating system shuts down by itself This is only a power off operation Rename the OVF Package You can rename an OVF package by converting the OVF to an OVF This action also renames all the disk names and changes the references in the OVF descriptor gt ovftool Windows 7 ovf win7 ovf Omit Disks in the VMware OVF Tool Output If you want only information about the OVF descriptor and not about the disks that it refers to you can suppress the output The following example command omits disk output and simply copies the OVF descriptor and any message bundle files that might be associated with it gt ovftool noDisks http example com ovf InterestingVirtualAppLliance package ovf Compress an OVF Package For maximum compression of an OVF package with multiple virtual machines set both the compress 9 and makeDeltaDisks options The following are examples of using maximum compression gt ovftool compress 9 makeDeltaDisks package ovf output dir gt ovftool compress 9 makeDeltaDisks vi localhost dc vm VirtualAppDemo output dir
33. pecify an inventory path for a virtual machine or vApp use the following syntax lt datacenter name gt vm lt folders gt lt vm or vApp name gt or lt datacenter name gt host lt resource pool path gt lt vm or vApp name gt The use of the vm tag after the datacenter name specifies that you are locating a virtual machine or vApp in the VM and Template view Use the host tag after the datacenter name if you are locating a virtual machine or vApp in the Host and Clusters view The following example shows an inventory path without any folders MyDatacenter vm MyVM The following example shows an inventory path with two nested folders MyDatacenter vm Folder 1 Sub Folder MyVM Specifying the Inventory Path for a Cluster Host or Resource Pool You can specify an inventory path for a host or a resource pool You can nest resource pools similar to folders To specify an inventory path for a host or a resource pool as part of target locators use the following syntax lt datacenter name gt host lt host name gt Resources lt resource pool gt host and Resources Fixed parts of the path Resources Specify only when a resource pool is specified lt resource pool gt Can take the value of one or more nested resource pools If no resource pools are specified the default resource pool for the host is used The following example is of an inventory path without a specified resource pool TestDatacenter host esx host3 example com The f
34. played before installation Optimized download from the Internet Large virtual disks are compressed for fast download and to reduce disk space for large template libraries VMware Platforms Using OVF VMware supports OVF on the following platforms m For VirtualCenter 2 5 and later and ESX 3 5 and later the VI Client supports OVF 0 9 import and export m For vCenter 4 0 VirtualCenter 2 x and later ESX 3 x and later VMware Server 2 Workstation 5 x and later use OVF Tool 1 0 documented here m VMware Studio 1 0 and later can generate OVF packages m For most of the current VMware products you can also use Converter to import and export OVF OVF support is built into the vSphere Client that installs from and is compatible with vCenter 4 0 and ESX 4 0 It is also built into the VI Client that installs from and is compatible with VirtualCenter 2 5 and later and ESX 3 5 and later Using the vSphere Client 4 you can import an OVF package and export a vApp into an OVF package For example to import an OVF package using vSphere Client 4 Click File gt Deploy OVF Template For example to export a vApp into an OVF package using vSphere Client 4 Click File gt Export gt Export OVF Template 8 VMware Inc Using VMware OVF Tool Using the VI Client 2 5 you can import an OVF virtual machine into an ESX host and export a virtual machine to an OVF file note that VI Client 2 5 is limited to OVF 0 9 For example to import an OVF v
35. r program calls OVF Tool m Uses new optimized upload and download API optimized for vSphere 4 m Signs OVF packages and validates OVF package signatures m Validates XML Schema of OVF 1 0 descriptors OVF Standard The OVF specification describes a secure portable efficient and flexible method to package and distribute virtual machines and components It originated from the Distributed Management Task Force DMTF after vendor initiative Companies that contributed to the standard include Dell HP IBM Microsoft VMware and Citrix Version 1 0 was published in April 2009 and is available on the DMTF Web site along with a white paper Specification http www dmtf org standards published_documents DSP0243_1 0 0 pdf Whitepaper http www dmtf org standards published_documents DSP2017_1 0 0 pdf Benefits of OVF Using OVF to distribute virtual machines has the following benefits m Ease of use When users receive a package in OVF format they do not have to unzip files execute binaries or convert disk formats Adding a vApp can be as simple as typing a URL and clicking Install m Virtual hardware validation OVF supports fast and robust hardware validation You do not have to install a complete virtual machine before determining whether it is compatible with an ESX host for example because it uses IDE virtual disks m Metadata inclusion Additional metadata such as an end user license agreement can be packaged with the OVF and dis
36. roperties 23 using a proxy 22 validating 22 F feature highlights 7 file locators 16 file size comparisons 9 VMware Inc l installing OVF 11 Linux details 11 Windows details 11 installing OVF Tool 11 introduction to OVF Tool 7 inventory path host or resource pool 18 virtual machine or vApp 18 L Linux path syntax for file locators 16 Linux installation of OVF 11 Linux operating systems supported 10 M makeDeltaDisks 9 O operating systems supported 10 OVF package space requirements 9 OVF standard 8 OVF support in vSphere 8 OVF Tool adding to PATH variable 12 command line options 13 examples 20 installation 11 installing 11 partial locators 18 running 12 running from command line 12 source and target locator definitions 13 P partial locators command line dialog 19 OVF Tool assumptions 18 PATH variable adding OVF Tool 12 platforms supported 8 protocol locators HTTP HTTPS FTP 17 R running OVF Tool after install 12 27 OVF Tool User Guide S source locator definition 13 VI 17 space requirements 9 supported platforms 8 T target locator definition 13 technical support resources 5 U URI using for file locators 17 URI using for locators 16 28 V VI source locators definition 17 query values 18 source and target values 17 virtual machine file extensions 9 vSphere support for OVF 8 WwW Windows path syntax for file locators 16 Windows installation details 11 Wi
37. se symbolic identifiers for network names These identifiers must be mapped to a network that is available on the chosen VI platform If only one network is available on the target and only one network is described in the OVF descriptor OVF Tool selects that network automatically In this case you do not need to specify a network mapping The net option has the following syntax net lt OVF network name gt lt target network name gt In the following example a network is selected gt ovftool net Example net 1 VM Network lt source gt lt VI locator gt If the OVF descriptor only specifies one network name you can specify the target network name of the network mapping as in the following example gt ovftool network VM Network lt source gt lt VI Locator gt Obtain Progress Feedback from VMware OVF Tool You can have machine readable progress feedback displayed on the command line The progress is simply written as the percentage finished gt ovftool machineOutput source target 0 1 3 10 99 100 Cancel VMware OVF Tool While it Is Running To cancel OVF Tool while it is running enter Ctrl C This halts OVF Tool and cleans up any generated files VMware Inc 23 OVF Tool User Guide 24 Probe Mode Probe mode reveals information about the content of a source You can probe OVA and OVF packages VMX and VI source types You can use the information gathered to find out how it can
38. that is included in the OVF package including the OVF descriptor itself OVF Tool generates an additional cert file with a signed SHA1 signature and the certificate used to sign it Example A 2 shows an example of the cert file generated by OVF Tool Example A 2 Certificate File Created by OVF Tool SHA1 signed package mf 5d9a307f0acdc1a424079eb38FfF8954c153F978e599ed374dd784c853bab1856415 falbef 378bde3487cd5dfa4d11a3017eda91886f98e3bba3adc2 F4e28ce6d0ba3a19eef80ac0729511311603 dcb221f9ba7a6008f1a87 fel5ebf3699c8a8744bd05c43b1387dd5 3d73723e7f0a3720d489e147e31c 4570d15fb7a3beae770 MIIDTzCCArigAwIBAgIJAKDgFLg9WvBwMAOGCSqGS Ib 3DQEBBQUAMHkxCZAJBgNV BAYTAkKRLMQ8wDQYDVQQHEWZBYXJ odXMxFTATBgNVBAoTDFZNd2FyZSwgSw5jLjEM MAoGA1UECXMDVk LNMREwDwYDVQQDEwhL cmLzdGLhbj EnMB8GCSqGSIb3DQEJARYS a2xhc3NLbkB2bXdhcmUuY29tMB4XDTA5SMDMwNj EZMDUWNFoXDTEwMDMwN j EZMDUw NFoweTELMAkGA1UEBhMCRESxDZANBgNVBAcTBkFhcmh1czEVMBMGALUEChMMVk13 YXJ1LLCBJbmMuMQwwCgYDVQQL EwNWSUOxETAPBgNVBAMTCEt yaXNOaWFuMSEwHwy J KoZIhvcNAQKBFhJ rbGFzc2VuQHZtd2FyZS5 jb20wgZ8wDQY J KoZIhvcNAQEBBQAD GYOAMIGJAOGBAM2xxX9a1YITiiRrxpXGg9xbEP40epcs71ZcNp8Z3mQIb95mpEc6 SZemmjOsqwpkvV 82RALOBgmJ hot 1noSkiAZi01LiPmX1MOBU30S pSim7VNKBmV SUJFOC4T6 MygVpyfkSUhB5EWx0J CUvowRex6Yt1220MOGcXnLpvdfO9AgMBAAG gd4wgdswHQYDVROOBBYEFM2KkX7pWTQmMg iD6HWMOZRLrfJMIGrBgNVHSMEgaMw gaCAFM2KkX7pWTQmMg iD6HWMOZRLrfJoX2kezBSMQswCQYDVQQGEwJESZEPMAOG A1UEBxMGQWF yaHVZMRUWEWwYDVQQKEwxWTXdhcmUsIE LuYy4xDDAKBgNVBASTA1ZJ
39. version Table 1 VMware Format File Sizes Compared to OVF and OVA File Sizes VMware Format OVF Format OVA Format Files LinuxBasedAppliance nvram LinuxBased A ppliance ovf LinuxBasedAppliance ova LinuxBasedA ppliance vmdk LinuxBased A ppliance 0 vmdk LinuxBasedA ppliance s001 vmdk LinuxBased A ppliance 1 vmdk LinuxBasedA ppliance s002 vmdk LinuxBased A ppliance 2 vmdk LinuxBasedA ppliance vmsd LinuxBasedA ppliance vmx LinuxBasedA ppliance vmxf Total size 251MB using thin provisioning 132MB 132MB 4000MB using thick provisioning VMware OVF Tool Delta Disk Facilities VMware OVF Tool automatically compresses disk files In the streaming VMDK files that OVF Tool generates the tool compresses each 64KB disk grain It is possible to achieve even better compression using the compress option In addition if a package contains multiple virtual machines it is possible to compress an OVF package even more using a technique called delta disk compression This compression algorithm is invoked using the makeDeltaDisks option ovftool makeDeltaDisks package ovf output dir Delta disk compression identifies disk segments that are equal and combines these equal parts in a parent disk This process prevents storing the same segment twice VMware Inc 9 OVF Tool User Guide As an example consider a software solution that consists of an Apache Web server virtual machine and a MySQL database virtual machine both installed on t
40. wing is an example of a configuration file proxy http proxy example com datastore storage test42 Comment on something Locale dk You can create local or global configuration files A local configuration file has the ovftool suffix and is read in the folder from which you invoke OVF Tool A global configuration file is per user On Windows the global configuration file is read from the following location C Documents and Settings USERNAME VMware ovftool cfg On Linux the global configuration file is read from the following location HOME ovftool When using configuration files globally defined options are overwritten by locally defined and command line options Locally defined options are overwritten by command line options You can use the ovftool help config command to get information about how to use a configuration file In addition the current contents of the global configuration file as well as any local configuration file is shown Examples of Using VMware OVF Tool Usage 20 At the command line type help examples to display examples of ovFtool commands Convert a VMX to an OVF To convert a virtual machine in VMware runtime format vmx to an OVF package type a command like the following gt ovftool f myvms BigDemo vmx x ovf BigDemo ovf Convert a VMX to an OVA To convert a VMX to an OVA file type a command like the following gt ovftool vmxs Nostalgia vmx ovfs Nostalgia ova Convert an OVF to

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