Specifications

VMware, Inc. 139
9
TheVMwareInfrastructureClient(VIClient)allowsyoutoimportandexportvirtual
appliancesstoredinOpenVirtualMachineFormat(OVF).Anapplianceisa
pre‐configuredvirtualmachinethattypicallyincludesapreinstalledguestoperating
systemandothersoftware.
Importingvirtualappliancesallowsyoutoaddpre‐configuredvirtualmachines
to
yourVirtualCenterorESXServerinv entory.Importingavirtualapplianceissimilarto
deployingavirtualmachinefromatemplate.However,youcanimportavirtual
appliancefromanylocalfilesystemaccessiblefromtheVIClientmachine,orfroma
remoteWebserver.Thelocalfilesystemscan
includelocaldisks(suchasC:),removable
media(suchasCDsorUSBkeychaindrives),andsharednetworkdrives.
Exportingvirtualmachinesallowsyoutocreatevirtualappliancesthatcanbeimported
byotherusers.Youcanusetheexportfunctiontodistributepre‐installedsoftwareasa
virtualappliance,or
asameansofdistributingtemplatevirtualmachinestousers,
includinguserswhocannotdirectlyaccessandusethetemplatesinyourVirtualCenter
inventory.
Thischapterdiscussesthefollowingtopics:
 “A b o u t OVF”onpage 140
 “ImportingaVirtualAppliance”onpage 140
 “ExportingaVirtualMachine”onpage 141
Importing and Exporting
Virtual Machines
9