Hi Everyone,

I was trying to deploy a VM using the ovftool, I thought I would use the properties which are thrown from a "probe" of the OVA file.

ovftool http://server/files/builds/vpas/6.0.0/latest/vPAS-installer.ova

Properties:

  ClassId:     vami

  Key:         gateway

  InstanceId   vPAS

  Category:    Networking Properties

  Label:       Default Gateway

  Type:        string

  Description: The default gateway address for this VM. Leave blank if DHCP is

               desired.

  ClassId:     vami

  Key:         DNS

  InstanceId   vPAS

  Category:    Networking Properties

  Label:       DNS

  Type:        string

  Description: The domain name servers for this VM (comma separated). Leave

               blank if DHCP is desired.

  ClassId:     vami

  Key:         ip0

  InstanceId   vPAS

  Category:    Networking Properties

  Label:       Network 1 IP Address

  Type:        string

  Description: The IP address for this interface. Leave blank if DHCP is

               desired.

  ClassId:     vami

  Key:         netmask0

  InstanceId   vPAS

  Category:    Networking Properties

  Label:       Network 1 Netmask

  Type:        string

After having made sure that such properties exists from the probe, I tried to use them to give the VM a static IP post deployment, automatically.

ovftool --datastore="31_datastore" --acceptAllEulas --ipAllocationPolicy=fixedPolicy --name="vPAS_31_1" --powerOn --prop:ip0="172.16.121.115" --prop:netmask0="255.255.0.0" --prop:DNS="172.16.1.10" --prop:gateway="172.16.1.1" http://server/vpas/6.0.0/latest/vPAS-installer.ova vi://root:password@172.16.121.31/

Opening OVA source: http://server/files/builds/vpas/6.0.0/latest/vPAS-installer.ova

The manifest validates

Opening VI target: vi://root@172.16.121.31:443/

Deploying to VI: vi://root@172.16.121.31:443/

Transfer Completed                   

Powering on VM: vPAS_31_1

Warning:

- OVF property with key: 'DNS' does not exists.

- OVF property with key: 'gateway' does not exists.

- OVF property with key: 'ip0' does not exists.

- OVF property with key: 'netmask0' does not exists.

Completed successfully

Can someone please explain me whether this is a common problem ( from VMware ) or something I am doing wrong?

Thanks,

Hey

This is a short writeup on what is needed to import OVF produced with VirtualBox 2.2.4 (and 2.2.2)

You should tell VirtualBox to export in 0.9 format.

By default it produce OVFs for vmx-06 so if you want to import this OVF into VMware vSphere 4 with esx 3.5.x and esx 4.0 hosts

you will have to change this to either :

<vssd:VirtualSystemType>vmx-07</vssd:VirtualSystemType> (for a esx 4.0)

or

<vssd:VirtualSystemType>vmx-04</vssd:VirtualSystemType> (for esx 3.5.x and 4.0 hosts)

If you are using VMware OVF tool to convert it to a vmx for workstation you dont have to change this.

Needed changes to import the OVF with VMware OVF tool.

Change soundcard to non-required (esx boxes do not support virtual soundcards and  the hostresource value is not in the DMTF std for rasd elements)

Change the rasd item to:

<Item ovf:required="false">

<rasd:Caption>sound</rasd:Caption>

<rasd:Description>Sound Card</rasd:Description>

<rasd:InstanceId>7</rasd:InstanceId>

<rasd:ResourceType>35</rasd:ResourceType>

<rasd:ResourceSubType>ensoniq1371</rasd:ResourceSubType>

<rasd:AutomaticAllocation>false</rasd:AutomaticAllocation>

<rasd:AddressOnParent>3</rasd:AddressOnParent>

</Item>

of if you really need the soundcard to:

<Item ovf:required="true">

<rasd:Caption>sound</rasd:Caption>

<rasd:Description>Sound Card</rasd:Description>

<rasd:InstanceId>7</rasd:InstanceId>

<rasd:ResourceType>1</rasd:ResourceType>

<rasd:ResourceSubType>vmware.ensoniq1371</rasd:ResourceSubType>

<rasd:AutomaticAllocation>false</rasd:AutomaticAllocation>

<rasd:AddressOnParent>3</rasd:AddressOnParent>

</Item>

(Skip the next if you are converting to a vmx file (used for VMware workstation)) 

Disks on IDE Controllers are only supported by newer VMware products so it will be a good idea to add the following to the OVF

<Item>

<rasd:Description>SCSI Controller</rasd:Description>

<rasd:InstanceId>10</rasd:InstanceId>

<rasd:ResourceType>6</rasd:ResourceType>

<rasd:ResourceSubType>lsilogic</rasd:ResourceSubType>

<rasd:Address>1</rasd:Address>

<rasd:BusNumber>1</rasd:BusNumber>

</Item>

and change the disk to point to this by changing the parent in the disk rasd element e.g.

<Item>

<rasd:Caption>disk1</rasd:Caption>

<rasd:Description>Disk Image</rasd:Description>

<rasd:InstanceId>8</rasd:InstanceId>

<rasd:ResourceType>17</rasd:ResourceType>

<rasd:HostResource>/disk/vmdisk1</rasd:HostResource>

<rasd:Parent>10</rasd:Parent>

<rasd:AddressOnParent>0</rasd:AddressOnParent>

</Item>

Will the VM work after the changes? That depends if your vm have driver for the scsi controller etc but atleast you can import it.

Feel free to comment

I have an OVF from VirtualBox that I want to import into VMware Workstation 6.5.2 (linux). The first thing I noticed was that there is no 'Import' option in the File menu of VMware 6.5.2 for linux. So, I ran the ovf file through ovftool. ovftool reported an error when converting:

~/tmp] ovftool foo.ovf ~/tmp/convert/foo.vmx

Opening OVF source: foo.ovf

Warning: No manifest file

Opening VMX target: foo.vmx

Error:

- Line 2: Invalid value '1.0' for attribute 'version' on element 'Envelope'.

~/tmp]

This particular OVF was created with VirtualBox 2.2.4. Both support ovf 1.0, right? Output of line 2 ...

~/tmp] sed -n 2p foo.ovf

Ideas?

I have tried everything and having trouble with this command and here is the error I am getting.  I have tried "--network=VM Network" and every option I can think of and those options seems correct because the command does execute, but I get the same results.  The thing is I do not currently need a network adapter installed on this machine after I bring it into the VMWare environment

C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware OVF Tool>ovftool.exe --datastore=EVA1Disk1 --net work="Host Only" c:\Temp\Netscaler\NSVPX-ESX-9.1-101.5.ovf vi://root@128.1.60.200

Opening OVF source: c:\Temp\Netscaler\NSVPX-ESX-9.1-101.5.ovf Please enter login information for target vi://128.1.60.200/ Username: root Password: ********* Opening VI target: vi://root@128.1.60.200/Error: No network mapping specified OVF networks:  NS_NIC_1_1  VM Network Target networks:  Host Only  VM Network

Hi,

trying to convert a "SUSEstudio" generated vmdk/vmx to our VI.

I have:

SLE_11.1JeOSPHR.x86_64-0.0.3.vmdk

SLE_11.1JeOSPHR.x86_64-0.0.3.vmx

christian@chrisw:/srv/ISO/JeOS/SLE_11.1JeOSPHR-0.0.3> ovftool SLE_11.1JeOSPHR.x86_64-0.0.3.vmx

Opening VMX source: SLE_11.1JeOSPHR.x86_64-0.0.3.vmx

OVF version:   1.0

Name:          SLE_11.1JeOSPHR.x86_64-0.0.3

Download Size:     Unknown

Deployment Sizes:

  Flat disks:      4.04 GB

  Sparse disks:   Unknown

Networks:

  Name:        bridged

  Description: The bridged network

Virtual Hardware:

  Family:       vmx-04

  Disk Types:   SCSI-lsilogic

Completed successfully

#####

When I try to convert it to vi (to correct datastore) I'm getting the mentioned error:

so what is the correct syntax ??

christian@chrisw:~/srv/ISO/JeOS/SLE_11.1JeOSPHR-0.0.3> ovftool -ds=CX300-OTC-02 -dm=thick SLE_11.1JeOSPHR.x86_64-0.0.3.vmx vi://i000156@vc.icw.int/DC%20OTC

Opening VMX source: SLE_11.1JeOSPHR.x86_64-0.0.3.vmx

Please enter login information for target vi://vc.icw.int/

Username: i000156

Password: ********

Error: Locator does not refer to an object: vi://i000156@vc.icw.int/DC%20OTC

DataCenter="DC OTC"

DataSource="CX300-OTC-2"

THX

Chris

I am trying to create an OVF from a vm in vsphere - I'm running ovftool on a linux machine, and using the following syntax (I got this from the ovftool users guide):

ovftool username@myvcenter.aaa.com/"datacenter name"/vm/vmname /local/path/tostoreit/vnname.ovf

It prompts for a password, I enter the password, and it comes back with:

Opening VI source: vi://username@myvcenter.aaa.com/datacenter name/vmname
Error: Locator does not refer to an object:vi://username@myvcenter.aaa.com/datacenter name/vmname

Incidentally, I get the exact same error when I try using the mac version of ovftool, and the windows version.

Please help - I know this should work. I have no idea what I'm doing wrong, but I have to get this working pretty fast.

Thank you!!

OVFTool fails with manifest issue of ova format, enclosed the command used and the output

ovftool C:\DevVM\Appliance\TestDev.ova C:\DevVM\TestDev\TestDev.vmx

Opening OVA source: C:\DevVM\Appliance\TestDev.ova

Opening VMX target: C:\DevVM\TestDev\TestDev.vmx

Writing VMX file: C:\DevVM\TestDev\TstDev.vmx

Disk Transfer Failed

Error: SHA1 digest of file TestDev-disk1.vmdk does not match manifest

I am using VMware ovftool 2.0.1 (build-260188). Any help and/or pointers appreciated. Thanks.

It appears that ovftool 3.0.1 has an issue while specifying the target datastore when importing an OVF when the VI is a vCenter 5.0 server with ESX 5.0 Update 1 hosts that have a large number of Datastores.  The cluster where this problem occurs has 148 Datastores.

Some datastores work, most don't.  This is a new problem since ovftool 2.0.1 worked fine when this cluster was at ESX 4.0 Update 3.

An example statement that will cause the problem (with all names replaced with "test" names):

"C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware OVF Tool\ovftool.exe" --acceptAllEulas --name="TestVM" --datastore="TestDatastore" --network=TestNetwork --vmFolder="TestFolder" http://192.168.0.1/public/ovfs/testvm.ovf vi://"username:password"@vcenter.test.com/"Data Center"/host/"HA and DRS"/Resources/"Test Resource Pool"

I'm trying to create an OVA file from an installed VM.  If I try creating it with ovftool 3.5, it downloads everything completely then gives me the following error:

SHA1 digest of file https://172.31.68.10:443/ha-nfc/52cca89a-6cde-c7a7-0810-25ff2197d3d6/disk-1.iso does not match manifest
and then deletes the file(s) it generated.

I am using compress=0 and --noImageFiles so i don't get the install iso.

If I manually go into Edit Settings and remove the cdrom, then 3.5 creates the ova correctly.

If I use ovftool 2.0, it succeeds even without manually removing the cdrom iso.

I've seen posts where users get the same error I do when they are going ova/f to vm and the answer is to delete the manifest.   Since all of the files are deleted after the error message, I don't have the option to delete the locally created manifest.

Is there a way to keep the files around even after a manifest error?

Does anyone know why ovftool 3.5 would fail in this case and 2.0 would word?  Has there been some deprecation between the two of them?

Thanks,
Mike

Greetings!

I'm currently trying to sign created OVA package with trusted certificate from Thawte.

This cert is valid (till 2013) and could be easily verified with openssl (`openssl verify sign.cert`) or with Windows tools.

Signing works as follows and it is okay:

ovftool --sourceType=vmx --targetType=ova --privateKey=sign.pem package.vmx package.ova

But when I try to check it with ovftool (`ovftool package.ova`) it shows:

Error: Verification of package.cert failed

Also verification of package.cert itself with openssl is also fine.

Can anybody help me on what could cause such problem?

Thanks in advance.

I have an OVF I'm trying to import into VI (ESX 3.5) and I'm getting the following error:

Error: OVF Package is not supported by target:
- Line 57: No space left for device '7' on parent controller '6'.

Here's the snippet of OVF:

      <Item>
        <rasd:Address>0</rasd:Address>
        <rasd:ElementName>IDE 0</rasd:ElementName>
        <rasd:InstanceID>6</rasd:InstanceID>
        <rasd:ResourceSubType>piix4</rasd:ResourceSubType>
        <rasd:ResourceType>5</rasd:ResourceType>
      </Item>
      <Item>
        <rasd:AddressOnParent>0</rasd:AddressOnParent>
        <rasd:ElementName>Harddisk disk1</rasd:ElementName>
        <rasd:HostResource>ovf:/disk/disk1</rasd:HostResource>
        <rasd:InstanceID>7</rasd:InstanceID>
        <rasd:Parent>6</rasd:Parent>
        <rasd:ResourceType>17</rasd:ResourceType>
      </Item>
      <Item>
        <rasd:Address>1</rasd:Address>
        <rasd:ElementName>IDE 1</rasd:ElementName>
        <rasd:InstanceID>8</rasd:InstanceID>
        <rasd:ResourceSubType>piix4</rasd:ResourceSubType>
        <rasd:ResourceType>5</rasd:ResourceType>
      </Item>

Thanks!

Mike

Hello,

I am seeking guidance on automation\customization of an OVA deployment.

Looking to use an OVA due to it's compression ability which is favorable when needing to transfer a VMWare virtual machine from Host to Host for deployment at different location across a WAN.  In the past, we have created a VM template and provided customization file for deployment but the size of the template was too large for transfer across the WAN....so we would have to ship on seperate media.

I am looking to achieve the same end result of deployment of a vm template but through the deployment of the OVA template.

Here is where I am at so far:
1. Create the VM (in this case Windows XP SP3)
2. Export the VM to OVA Template.
3. Deploy OVA Template

All of the above works without any problem.  However, during deployment of the OVA, I would like to prompt the end user to input computer name, Fixed IP information or DHCP, domain to join, etc.  Additionally, I would like sysprep to run.

I have read the guide and numerous articles on the OVF descriptors, but not quite sure where or how to input these prompts so they appear during the OVA deployment.  Additionally, if I sysprep the vm before exporting to OVA, how can I get sysprep and the input from the end user deployment to work hand in hand.

Thanks in advance for any guidance or tutorial reference you can supply to help me understand OVA deployment of a single vm and how to configure custom settings during deployment with sysprep running.

Hi,

I have built a VM, using VMware Studio in OVA format. I defined some custom OVF environment properties in it.

After I built the VM, I opened the .OVF file to see the property values are appeared correctly. They look like the below

</ProductSection>

I deployed this OVF to a ESXi 4.0 server. Later exported the same VM to OVF format using OVFTool, using the command line

ovftool.exe vi://root:xxxxxxxxxxx@IP/vmname  "d:\Virtual Machines\imported-OVF\newVM.ovf"

After the export, I opened the newVM.OVF file and found that the properties (like product, vendor, version etc.) are not retained.

What could be the issue. Please suggest.

--Hemanth

HI How do you use the ovftool to migrate a virtual machine (VMX) on a single server esxi 5.1 host to an ovf file? the syntax requires you to specify a data center . However I do not have a datacenter, because I only have a single esx host.

example: ovftool vi://username:pass@my_host/my_datacenter/vm/ my_vm_folder /ovfs/my_vm.ovf

What do I put for datacenter if I do not have one.

thanks!

OVFTool keeps failing when I try to convert an OVA image to vmdk, since I don't have a domain on our network, a la vi://hostname.domain.

What should I do?

It's a Mitel Linux Image.

I am attempting to determine an easy method to deploy .OVA templates for quick provisioning/deployment of VM's.

I have built VM baselines using a development vSphere cluster and exported the VM to .OVA using vSphere client. Those .OVA files reside on a Linux fileserver with ovftool installed on the system and network access to future ESXi and/or vSphere clusters.

Is it possible to 'deploy' the .OVA template from the Linux fileserver directly to a remote ESXi host's datastore and/or vSphere cluster datastore? I cant get it to work.

My OVA file:

[root@centos_lab1 u0]# ls -lha

total 5.9G

drwxr-xr-x.  3 root root 4.0K Jun 28 08:48 .

dr-xr-xr-x. 24 root root 4.0K Jun 25 11:30 ..

-rw-r--r--   1 root root 5.9G Jun 24 10:01 test.ova

Attempting to deploy to ESXi host:

[root@centos_lab1 u0]# ovftool test.ova vi://root:test123@172.16.16.81

Opening OVA source: test.ova

Opening VI target: vi://root@172.16.16.81:443/

Error: No target datastore specified. Possible completions:

  iSCSI-Large

  ESX1_local_datastore

  iSCSI-Equallogic

  fusionio

  Super_ISO

Completed with errors

[root@centos_lab1 u0]# ovftool test.ova vi://root:test123@172.16.16.81/iSCSI-Equallogic/

Opening OVA source: test.ova

Error: Locator does not refer to an object: vi://root@172.16.16.81:443ha-datacenter/host/esx1.lab.q9.com/Resources/iSCSI-Equallogic/

Completed with errors

Any idea what I am doing wrong here? Is what I am trying to do even possible with ovftool?

I am trying to convent a vmx within vCenter server to a local vmx, i am trying with:

ovftool.exe "vi://user:password@my_vCenterserver/may_datacenter?ds=[my_datastore] my_vm/my_vm.vmx" C:\ovfs\my_vm.vmx

as the tool user guide Page 35, session "Converting a VM on ESXi or vCenter to an OVF" introduces.

But I got prompt as:

Opening VI source: vi://my_vCenterserver:443/

Error: Datacenter object not found

Completed with errors

But, i am sure the my_datacenter is INDEED exists.

Any suggestions what should i do?

Additional:

I even can NOT probe my VMX like this:

ovftool.exe vi://user:password@my_vCenterserver/my_datacenter/my_vm/my_vm.vmx

with Error:

Error: Locator does not refer to an object: vi://user:password@my_vCenterserver/my_datacenter/my_vm/my_vm.vmx

But I am very sure 'my_vmx' locates indeed there.

Hi all,

I have a "little" question. I have installed a new vCenter 5.5 in my farm and I would like to migrate all clusters/hosts to it. In my old vcenter there are a lot of vApps. How can migrate all without problems?

Thank you very much.

Matrix

Hello ,

I used the vcenter 4.1 console to Export OVF Template.  We need to be able to load this template in vmware player.  I downloaded ovftool and tried to convert the OVF template so that it could be run in Vmware player.

This is the command I am issuing to convert the template based off of the OVFTOOL PDF.  This, to my understanding should convert the OVF to a VMX and drop it in the D:\vms folder.  There are 4 disks in this VM server

Input

C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware OVF Tool>ovftool -tt=vmx D:\server_name\server_name.ovf D:\vms\

Output:

Opening OVF source: D:\server\server.ovf
The manifest validates
Opening VMX target: D:\vms\
Warning:
- Target does not support CPU validation.
Error:
-
Completed with errors

Needless to say the VMS folder is getting created but nothing else is being converted. 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

DS

Hey,

Is anybody aware of what network flows exist when deploying an ovf file using ovftool through a vCenter?  Right now ovftool is continually erroring out with the following message:

Transfer Failed                      
Error: Network connection was lost.
Completed with errors

When watching on the vCenter I can see that the virtual machine is created but then it looks like data is never actually transferred.  So I know that the initial connection to vCenter is successful.

I'm guessing the initial connection happens with vCenter and then the data transfer occurs directly with the ESX.  Would be very appreciative if somebody could confirm this and identify the port that the data transfer happens on.

Thanks,

-Chris