3.0
Table Of Contents
- User’s Manual
- Contents
- About This Book
- Introduction
- System Requirements
- Application Requirements
- Memory Requirements for Cold Cloning
- Virtual Machine and System Image Requirements
- Restoring VCB Images in Converter
- Supported Destinations
- Configuring Permissions for VirtualCenter Users
- Level of Internationalization Support
- How Converting Affects Settings
- Changes to Virtual Hardware
- TCP/IP Port Requirements
- Remote Hot Cloning Troubleshooting Tips
- Installing and Uninstalling
- Converting Machines
- Using the Converter Boot CD for Local Cold Cloning
- Configuring VMware Virtual Machines
- Managing Tasks
- Appendix: Migration with p2vTool Command-Line Interface
- Glossary
- Index
VMware, Inc. 31
Chapter 4 Converting Machines
EveryOVFvirtualappliancecontainsan.ovffilewithmetadatathatdescribesthevirtualappliance.AnOVF
virtualappliancecanbepackagedasan.ovafilewherethe.ovafileisatarredfilethatcontainsallthefilesin
theOVFvirtualappliance.
Importing Virtual Appliances
YoucanimportvirtualappliancestoESXServerorESXServermanagedbyVirtualCenterortoWorkstation
standaloneimages.
IfyouselectavirtualappliancetoinstallfromaURL,thefilesaredownloadedthroughHTTPthencloned
totheireventualdestination.
Iflicenseagreementsarepackagedwiththeappliance,theEndUserLicenseAgreement(EULA)page
appears.
Importingasingle.ovafileprovidesawaytodownloadthevirtualapplianceinasingletarredfileandis
recommendedforphysicalmediadistribution.
URLdownloadsaresupportedforvirtualappliancesthatcontainfileslessthan2GB.
Forallvirtualappliances,the.ovffileisfirstparsedbeforetherestofthepackagetoidentifythe
remainingfilesinthepackageandtoensurethatthepackagecanbeimported.Ifthepackagecannotbe
imported,thedownloadprocessstops.
Creating Virtual Appliances
Whenyoucreateavirtualapplianceduringtheexportprocess,youcanincludethefollowinginformationin
thevirtualappliance:
Convertergeneratesdefaultmetadataforthe.ovffilethatprovidesinformationaboutthevirtual
appliance.Youcanedittheexistingmetadata.
Whenyoucreateavirtualapplianceduringtheexportprocess,youcandeterminewhichlicensesto
include.
Converterprovidestheoptiontocreateamanifestfile,whichisatextfilethatcontainsaSHAIdigestof
eachofthefilesintheOVFpackage.
ConverterprovidestheadditionaloptiontopackagetheOVFvirtualapplianceasan.ovafile.
YoucannotperformreconfigurationorcustomizationwhenyoucreateanOVFvirtualappliance.
However,whenyouimportavirtualappliancetoadestination(eitherhostedormanaged),
reconfigurationisperformedonthetargetvirtualmachine.
Unsupported Scenarios
Thefollowingscenariosarenotsupported:
Selectingasubsetofthevolumesorresizingthevolumes.Youmustselectallvolumesforanimportand
maintainthesizeofallthevolumesonthetargetmachine.
ExportingfromOVFtoOVF.Thatis,whenbothsourceanddestinationarevirtualappliances.
Exportingphysicalmachinesorthird‐partybackupimagesorvirtualmachineimagestoavirtual
appliance.
ExportingWindows2000virtualmachineswithscsiport.sysdriverversion5.0.2195.7017toavirtual
appliance
ExportingWindowsNT4SMPvirtualmachinestoavirtualappliance
AlthoughConverterdoesnotsupportthepreviousscenarios,ineachcaseyoucanuseConvertertofirst
convertthesourcemachinetoaVMwarevirtualmachine,thenconvertthatmachinetoavirtualappliance.