5.5

Table Of Contents
Initiating the OVF Upload
To initiate the OVF upload, a client makes a POST request to an action/upload link in the target catalog. The
type of this link is application/vnd.vmware.vcloud.uploadVAppTemplateParams+xml. The request body is an
UploadVAppTemplateParams element.
The first step in uploading an OVF package is to request vCloud Director to create a catalog item in the
target catalog and a corresponding vAppTemplate object to represent the template that will be constructed
from the upload.
Prerequisites
Verify that the following are true:
n
You have an OVF package to upload.
n
You are logged in as a user who has permission to upload OVF packages and create vApp templates.
n
You know the URL of the target catalog that will receive the upload. Retrieve the XML representation of
your organization to see a list of the catalogs that it contains.
Procedure
1 Find the action/upload link for vApp templates in the target catalog.
Retrieve the XML representation of the catalog using a request like the one shown in the request portion
of “Example: Deployment Information in a VDC,” on page 30. The response contains an action/upload
link, which has the following form:
<Link
rel="add"
type="application/vnd.vmware.vcloud.uploadVAppTemplateParams+xml"
href="https://vcloud.example.com/api/catalog/32/action/upload" />
2 Create an UploadVAppTemplateParams element that specifies the parameters for the vApp template that
this request creates.
See the request portion of “Example: Initiating the Upload,” on page 61.
3 (Optional) If the OVF package includes a manifest, include a manifestRequired="true" attribute in the
UploadVAppTemplateParams element.
Some OVF packages include a manifest document, which provides a checksum for each file in the
package. When the UploadVAppTemplateParams element includes a manifestRequired="true" attribute,
the set of File elements returned after you upload the OVF descriptor includes one for the manifest
itself.
4 Make an HTTP POST request to the upload link that you retrieved in Step 1, supplying the
UploadVAppTemplateParams element in the request body.
See the request portion of “Example: Initiating the Upload,” on page 61.
5 Examine the response.
The response, a CatalogITem element, contains an Entity element that contains a reference to the vApp
template that will be constructed from the uploaded OVF. See the response portion of
“Example: Initiating the Upload,” on page 61.
The server creates a VAppTemplate object and a corresponding CatalogItem in the target catalog, and returns
an XML representation of the CatalogItem. See the response portion of “Example: Initiating the Upload,” on
page 61.
vCloud API Programming Guide
60 VMware, Inc.