Hey all. I know I am using proper syntax, but it seems like there's a missing service running on my esx cluster. I am able to log in with vSphere, but cannot use ovftool to export a stopped server in my ESX 4.0 cluster environment.

command I am using:

ovftool vi://[username]:[password]@vi://192.168.77.111/[serverid] d:\[serveridoutput].ovf

the error I am receiving is as follows:

Error: Could not lookup host: [username]

Completed with errors

Now it's interesting because the server does seem to know that I am using a proper user/pass because if I make a mistake on the password, I am given another chance to log in, until I miss three tries. If I enter the correct password, it seems to almost connect, then fails out with the above error. I would *REALLY* appreciate some help with this guys.

Thanks in advance!

Can anyone help me out on "how to add additional Hard Disk and Ethernet Adapter for VM created in an ESXi server using ovftool.exe commandline.

Hi All,

I'm unable to get ovftool to export a vm from my server that has spaces in the path to the vmx file.

Any help would be appreciated.  Thanks!

On the server:

~ # vim-cmd vmsvc/getallvms

Vmid Name             File Guest                              OS Version     Annotation

112  ar-vm            [sata3] har_vm/har_vm.vmx                rhel5_64Guest  vmx-07

16   eluefin          [sata1] eluefin/eluefin.vmx              rhel4_64Guest  vmx-07

32   igloo (RH5)      [sata0] igloo (RH5)/igloo (RH5).vmx      rhel5_64Guest  vmx-07           

When I try to export "igloo (RH5)":

C:\OVF_Tool>ovftool.exe  --compress=9 --X:logToConsole "vi://root:doublesecret@hoo.lgc.com/ha-datacenter?ds=[sata0] igloo (RH5)/igloo (RH5).vmx" F:\igloo

2013-05-23T12:55:47.089-05:00 [02908 verbose 'Default'] [SSL_DB] Using C:\Users\owjune\AppData\Roaming\VMware\ovftool_SSLDB as SSL DB

2013-05-23T12:55:47.105-05:00 [02908 verbose 'Default'] Subscribing to signal: 2 (SIGINT)

2013-05-23T12:55:47.105-05:00 [02908 verbose 'Default'] Subscribing to signal: 4 (SIGILL)

2013-05-23T12:55:47.120-05:00 [02908 verbose 'Default'] Subscribing to signal: 22 (SIGABRT)

2013-05-23T12:55:47.120-05:00 [02908 verbose 'Default'] Subscribing to signal: 8 (SIGFPE)

2013-05-23T12:55:47.120-05:00 [02908 verbose 'Default'] Subscribing to signal: 15 (SIGTERM)

2013-05-23T12:55:47.120-05:00 [02908 verbose 'Default'] OvfTool Version: VMware ovftool 3.0.1 (build-801290)

2013-05-23T12:55:47.120-05:00 [02908 verbose 'Default'] Using home directory: C:\Users\owjune\AppData\Roaming\VMware\ovftool.cfg

2013-05-23T12:55:47.120-05:00 [02908 verbose 'Default'] OvfTool Environment:

--> /X:httpTimeout = "0"

--> /X:imageReadSize = "262144"

--> /X:logToConsole = "true"

--> /X:maxNumberOfTermSignals = "5"

--> /X:maxRedirects = "256"

--> /X:maximalDeltaConfSize = "8"

--> /X:maximalDeltaTreeSize = "6"

--> /X:progressSmoothing = "60"

--> /X:useMacNaming = "false"

--> /X:vCloudEnableGuestCustomization = "false"

--> /X:vCloudKeepTemplate = "true"

--> /X:vCloudTimeout = "3600"

--> /X:vimSessionTimeout = "600"

--> /authdPortSource = "902"

--> /authdPortTarget = "902"

--> /compress = "9"

--> /fencedMode = "bridged"

--> /prgPath = "C:\OVF_Tool"

--> /source = "vi://root:doublesecret@hoo.lgc.com/ha-datacenter?ds=[sata0] igloo (RH5)/igloo (RH5).vmx"

--> /target = "F:\igloo"

--> /vCloudTemplate = "false"

-->

2013-05-23T12:55:47.152-05:00 [02908 verbose 'Default'] Done initializing libs

2013-05-23T12:55:47.152-05:00 [02908 verbose 'Default'] Determining source

2013-05-23T12:55:47.152-05:00 [02908 verbose 'Default'] Determining target

2013-05-23T12:55:47.152-05:00 [02908 verbose 'HttpConnectionPool-000000'] HttpConnectionPoolImpl created. maxPoolConnections = 20; idleTimeout = 900000000; maxOpenConnections = 20; maxConnectionAge = 0

2013-05-23T12:55:47.152-05:00 [02908 verbose 'Default'] Getting http page: https://hoo.lgc.com/sdk/vimServiceVersions.xml

2013-05-23T12:55:47.152-05:00 [02908 verbose 'Default'] Proxy host

2013-05-23T12:55:47.167-05:00 [00756 info 'Default'] Thread attached

2013-05-23T12:55:47.183-05:00 [03816 verbose 'Default'] CURL: header data removed

2013-05-23T12:55:47.183-05:00 [03816 verbose 'Default'] CURL: header data removed

2013-05-23T12:55:47.183-05:00 [03816 verbose 'Default'] CURL: header data removed

2013-05-23T12:55:47.183-05:00 [03816 verbose 'Default'] CURL: header data removed

2013-05-23T12:55:47.183-05:00 [03816 verbose 'Default'] CURL: header data removed

2013-05-23T12:55:47.183-05:00 [03816 verbose 'Default'] CURL: header data removed

2013-05-23T12:55:47.183-05:00 [03816 verbose 'Default'] CURL: header data removed

2013-05-23T12:55:47.183-05:00 [03816 verbose 'Default'] CURL: header data removed

2013-05-23T12:55:47.183-05:00 [02908 verbose 'Default'] [ViConnection] Using vim API version: 4.1

2013-05-23T12:55:47.183-05:00 [02168 info 'Default'] Thread attached

2013-05-23T12:55:47.183-05:00 [03780 info 'Default'] Thread attached

2013-05-23T12:55:47.198-05:00 [03920 info 'Default'] Thread attached

2013-05-23T12:55:47.198-05:00 [03192 info 'Default'] Thread attached

2013-05-23T12:55:47.198-05:00 [02752 info 'Default'] Thread attached

2013-05-23T12:55:47.245-05:00 [02908 verbose 'HttpConnectionPool-000001'] HttpConnectionPoolImpl created. maxPoolConnections = 1; idleTimeout = 900000000; maxOpenConnections = 1; maxConnectionAge = 0

2013-05-23T12:55:47.261-05:00 [02908 verbose 'Default'] Keeping VI session alive

Opening VI source: vi://root@hoo.lgc.com:443/ha-datacenter

2013-05-23T12:55:47.432-05:00 [02908 verbose 'Default'] Backtrace:

--> backtrace[00] rip 000007fef141722a

--> backtrace[01] rip 000007fef12df578

--> backtrace[02] rip 000007fef12e078e

--> backtrace[03] rip 000007fef129266b

--> backtrace[04] rip 000007feeeb0d3d1

--> backtrace[05] rip 000007fef0f703b8

--> backtrace[06] rip 000007fef0f707e9

--> backtrace[07] rip 000007fef0f8efbe

--> backtrace[08] rip 000007feee8b024e

--> backtrace[09] rip 000000013f83824d

--> backtrace[10] rip 000000013f7aca0d

--> backtrace[11] rip 000000013f7ad04a

--> backtrace[12] rip 000000013fa3a426

--> backtrace[13] rip 0000000076b5b1bd

--> backtrace[14] rip 0000000076d66861

-->

Error: vim.fault.FileNotFound

Completed with errors

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 have a setup where I am accessing vCenter and an ESXi host through a NAT layer. If I try to deploy directly to vCenter, ovftool automatically tries to connect to the ip address of the ESXi host behind the NAT layer, which fails.

It looks something like this:

[root@ovfimporter mnt]# date; ovftool --datastore="PayGo Storage" --net:"VLan 4=DedicatedPortGroup_NNNN" CUST/CUST.ovf vi://matthew.wallace@10.10.10.1/Customer\ Datacenter/host/PayGo\ Cluster/Resources/Paygo/NNNN\ \(abc44060-35dc-438a-8c79-6bc7586082ab\)/ ;date

Tue Oct  8 10:18:43 MDT 2013

Opening OVF source: CUST/CUST.ovf

The manifest validates

Enter login information for target vi://10.10.10.1/

Username: matthew.wallace

Password: *********

Opening VI target: vi://matthew.wallace@10.10.10.1:443/Customer%20Datacenter/host/PayGo%20Cluster/Resources/Paygo/NNNN%20(abc44060-35dc-438a-8c79-6bc7586082ab)/

Deploying to VI: vi://matthew.wallace@10.10.10.1:443/Customer%20Datacenter/host/PayGo%20Cluster/Resources/Paygo/NNNN%20(abc44060-35dc-438a-8c79-6bc7586082ab)/

Transfer Failed

Transfer Failed

Error: Lost connection to target

Completed with errors

Tue Oct  8 10:20:19 MDT 2013

Looking at netstat, I saw a hung connection to 443 of one of the ESX hosts in that PayGo Cluster:

In this case, 172.17.0.10 is the "real" IP of one of the esx hosts in the PayGo cluster managed by that vCenter, which I can reach from the client running the ovftool only by using the NAT ip of 10.10.10.100.

So, I tried to specify the external ip of that host. Per the ovftool 3.5 user guide:

Given that, I tried using several syntaxes:

ovftool --datastore="PayGo Storage" --net:"VLan 4=DedicatedPortGroup_NNNN" CUST/CUST.ovf vi://matthew.wallace@10.10.10.1/Customer\ Datacenter/host/PayGo\ Cluster/Resources/Paygo/NNNN\ \(abc44060-35dc-438a-8c79-6bc7586082ab\)/?ip=10.10.10.100

or even just the simplest version to see if I can get a prompt for going further down in the locator tree:

ovftool --datastore="PayGo Storage" --net:"VLan 4=DedicatedPortGroup_NNNN" "vi://matthew.wallace@10.10.10.1/?ip=10.10.10.100"

I invariably get a result like this:

The manifest validates

Enter login information for target vi://10.10.10.1/

Username: matthew.wallace

Password: *********

Error: Locator does not refer to an object: vi://matthew.wallace@10.10.10.1:443/?ip=10.10.10.100

Completed with errors

Outside of the brief mention of the "ip=xxx" param mentioned in the ovftool userguide I've been unable to find any reference to someone successfully using this parameter so I'm uncertain if this is a bug, my not understanding the intention of the parameter as specified in the OVF tool guide, or me using bad syntax.

Hi,

Thanks in advance for any help that can be given with this, Have been looking at rolling out .ovf VM's as part of a automation project. What we are trying to do is roll out two servers to a specific datacentre, cluster, host and Resource pool.

Script below is what we are using, it works perfectly to roll out a VM but this will only be in the root of the Datacentre.

C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware OVF Tool>ovftool -tt=vi -st=ovf --lax -n=Test --datastore=VMWARE --network="VLAN" --powerOn "Full UNC path of .ovf" "vi://Domain%5cUSER:Password@vsphere/DATACENTRE/host/Development/FULL HOST NAME/"

But when I add in the switch for Resource and the required Resource pool as seen below:

C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware OVF Tool>ovftool -tt=vi -st=ovf --lax -n=Test --datastore=VMWARE --network="VLAN" --powerOn "Full UNC path of .ovf" "vi://Domain%5cUSER:Password@vsphere/DATACENTRE/host/Development/FULL HOST NAME/Resources/Dev"

It give the following error:

Opening OVF source: Full UNC path of .ovf.ovf

Opening VI target: "vi://Domain%5cUSER:Password@vsphere/DATACENTRE/host/Development/FULL HOST NAME/Resources/Dev"

Error: No target host found in cluster that supports the chosen network/datastore/virtual hardware combination.

Possible completions:

ESXHOST 01

ESXHOST 02

ESXHOST 03

using OVFtool 3.5 with VMWare 5.0

See attached image for layout of vCentre

any help would be much appreciated.

Hi all ...I'm not sure if this is the correct place to post this question and I'm hoping someone could plase advise me as to how to do this.

I created a nested ESXi 5.5b VM.The VM is not connected to a vCenter as yet and it may or may not be connected based on whether or not I want to join it to a vCenter or not.

I then set the vAPP options to enable for the VM settings.

I then set various advanced properties for the VM.

I now have a Python script (I named it test2.py) which collects the properties from an OVA during it's deployment , the script then uses the info collected from the properties and applies them in commands at the cli.

I use this info to alter things like the Hostname, DNS, IP and other info inside the VM.

This all works successfully.

I would like to have the script start/run-once at boot time after the vAPP is deployed.

How do I do this ? and where to I place the script ? so that is does not get deleted or destroyed when the ova gets created and then deployed.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Kind regards

Den

Hi fellows,

                       I had deployed a virtual ESXi host on a physical ESXi and then I created an OVA file of that virtual host and then was trying to deploy the OVA after changing the IP, subnet mask and gateway properties of the OVA file. But when i used the probe mode to have a look at the class ID and other properties, I found them to be missing.

C:\Users\abhinav.srivastava>ovftool test1.ovf

OVF version:   1.0

VirtualApp:    false

Name:          vhost1

Download Size:  283.32 MB

Deployment Sizes:

  Flat disks:   25.00 GB

  Sparse disks: 325.44 MB

Networks:

  Name:        VM Network

  Description: The VM Network network

Virtual Machines:

  Name:               vhost1

  Operating System:   otherlinux64guest

  Virtual Hardware:

    Families:         vmx-08

    Number of CPUs:   2

    Cores per socket: 1

    Memory:           2.18 GB

    Disks:

      Index:          0

      Instance ID:    8

      Capacity:       25.00 GB

      Disk Types:     SCSI-lsilogic

    NICs:

      Adapter Type:   E1000

      Connection:     VM Network

So right now I am not able to change the OVA properties and deploy the virtual host. I need to do this as I want this step automated. Does anybody know why am I not able to see the properties of the OVA file. Am I going wrong somewhere. Kindly help!!

Thanks,

Abhinav

I want to clone a VMware VM (RHEL6.5), export it as an OVF and when someone deploys it again, I want them to enter custom information like IP, DNS, VM name in the vSphere Deploy wizard. How do i make this happen? (I've commented all the lines in the persistent net rules file and made the file read-only.)

I have an esxi 4.1 server that we are decommissioning as part of a move.  We've decided to archive some of the VMs that were part of a test bed, in case we need to revive them later.  I've been copying the VMs directly to a USB hard drive on my Mac with ovftool, but I've found that about half of the testbed VMs cannot be copied.  Here is an example of a failure:

wpeters$ ovftool vi://root@zeus.dvt.tachyon.net/Riverbed/VSH_markt /Volumes/Archive/VSH_markt.ova

Enter login information for source vi://zeus.dvt.tachyon.net/

Username: root

Password: *********

Opening VI source: vi://root@zeus.dvt.tachyon.net:443/Riverbed/VSH_markt

Error: vim.fault.FileNotFound

Completed with errors


 


And a success, on another VM:

wpeters$ ovftool vi://root@zeus.dvt.tachyon.net/Riverbed/VSH_250m /Volumes/Archive/VSH_250m.ova

Enter login information for source vi://zeus.dvt.tachyon.net/

Username: root

Password: *********

Opening VI source: vi://root@zeus.dvt.tachyon.net:443/Riverbed/VSH_250m

Opening OVA target: /Volumes/Archive/VSH_250m.ova

Writing OVA package: /Volumes/Archive/VSH_250m.ova

Transfer Completed                    

Completed successfully


 


Does anyone have any suggestions of what to look for?  I've started and stopped these VMs from the console, so I'm certain the storage is still available, etc.


Thanks!

Using a seperate process (python-vm-builder), I am building an ESX/ESXi compliant image that I have confirmed can be uploaded, imported and started in Workstation, ESX 3.0, ESXi 3.5 and even Server 2.0+.

I'm trying to go into the next step now, and convert this ESXi Image into a single OVF archive for even easier deployments.

Using the latest OVF Tool I have successfully created the new .ovf and zipped it up inside a tar.gz'd.  On my Windows box, I then extract it (using WinRAR), then using 'Import' in VIC try to import it.  When I select the OVF and click next it then throws the below error:

An error occurred while parsing the OVF descriptor

Unable to parse XML element 'Envelope'

What am I doing wrong? 

I have attached both the original VMX and the new OVF.

Please help!

Thank you.

Hi,

is it possible to include the nvram-file in the OVF-File oder how to tranport BIOS-Settings with OVF.

regards.

Hans-Peter

TAM, EMEA-Central

VMware

I've been trying to import the ovf-based Oracle storage simulator to ESX4. Also tried importing to Workstation when that failed.

No luck. Not with integrated converter, not with standalone converter, not with ovftool. Changing/removing lines in .ovf file brings me a bit further but still no cigar.

The process stalls at different points, but typically I get an error about unknown OS or unsupported hardware, sometimes a parse error with no additional info.

Has anybody got this working?

The simulator is a virtual-box based Solaris appliance.

Ole Thomsen

i am using ovftool (verisn 2.01), and i have got some error  as below, anyone ever met these? SOS

(1)

command:"C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware OVF Tool\ovftool.exe" --X:logToConsole "e:\shared\Windowns2003EServerSp2\Win2003.vmx" "e:\shared\1\Win2003_0.vof"

error information:

[2011-03-08 14:51:19.640 03480 verbose 'ovftool'] Subscribing to signal: 2 (SIGINT)

[2011-03-08 14:51:19.640 03480 verbose 'ovftool'] Subscribing to signal: 4 (SIGILL)

[2011-03-08 14:51:19.640 03480 verbose 'ovftool'] Subscribing to signal: 22 (SIGABRT)

[2011-03-08 14:51:19.640 03480 verbose 'ovftool'] Subscribing to signal: 8 (SIGFPE)

[2011-03-08 14:51:19.640 03480 verbose 'ovftool'] Subscribing to signal: 15 (SIGTERM)

[2011-03-08 14:51:19.640 03480 verbose 'ovftool'] [ovfTool.cpp] Using home directory C:\Documents and Settings\tom\Application Data\VMware\ovftool.cfg

[2011-03-08 14:51:19.640 03480 verbose 'ovftool'] [ovfTool.cpp] OvfTool Environment:

/X:fencedMode = "bridged"

/X:imageReadSize = "262144"

/X:logToConsole = "true"

/X:maxNumberOfTermSignals = "5"

/X:maxRedirects = "256"

/X:maximalDeltaConfSize = "8"

/X:maximalDeltaTreeSize = "6"

/X:progressSmoothing = "60"

/X:vimSessionTimeout = "600"

/authdPortSource = "902"

/authdPortTarget = "902"

/prgPath = "C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware OVF Tool"

/source = "e:\shared\Windowns2003EServerSp2\Win2003.vmx"

/target = "e:\shared\1\Win2003_0.vof"

[2011-03-08 14:51:19.656 03480 verbose 'ovftool'] [ovfTool.cpp] Done initializing libs

[2011-03-08 14:51:19.656 03480 verbose 'ovftool'] [ovfTool.cpp] Determining source

[2011-03-08 14:51:19.671 03480 verbose 'ovftool'] [ovfTool.cpp] Determining target

Opening VMX source: e:\shared\Windowns2003EServerSp2\Win2003.vmx

[2011-03-08 14:51:19.750 03480 error 'ovftool'] CoreDump: ExternalCoreMaster was not setup

[2011-03-08 14:51:19.750 03480 error 'ovftool'] CoreDump: ExternalCoreMaster was not setup

[2011-03-08 14:51:19.765 03480 info 'ovftool'] CoreDump: Writing minidump

[2011-03-08 14:51:19.843 03480 panic 'ovftool']

Panic: Win32 exception: Access Violation (0xc0000005)

   Read (0) at address 00000000

   rip: 7855b9f0 rsp: 0012fb14 rbp: 0012fb20

   rax: 00000000 rbx: 0012fc78 rcx: 00000000

   rdx: 00000004 rdi: 029a3d38 rsi: 0012fc78

Backtrace:

backtrace[00] rip 01b9936d (no symbol)

backtrace[01] rip 01b06fa4 (no symbol)

backtrace[02] rip 01b07517 (no symbol)

backtrace[03] rip 01bb2d49 (no symbol)

backtrace[04] rip 01bb2e6d (no symbol)

backtrace[05] rip 01ba72f4 (no symbol)

backtrace[06] rip 7857dca0 (no symbol)

backtrace[07] rip 7857d4eb (no symbol)

backtrace[08] rip 7857d8b6 (no symbol)

backtrace[09] rip 7857d9d3 (no symbol)

backtrace[10] rip 7857db8a (no symbol)

backtrace[11] rip 7c9232a8 (no symbol)

backtrace[12] rip 7c92327a (no symbol)

backtrace[13] rip 7c92e48a (no symbol)

backtrace[14] rip 78487155 (no symbol)

backtrace[15] rip 0044661f (no symbol)

backtrace[16] rip 0044aedf (no symbol)

backtrace[17] rip 0040cfba (no symbol)

backtrace[18] rip 0058799b (no symbol)

backtrace[19] rip 7c817077 (no symbol)

Section for VMware Workstation, pid=3292, version=e.x.p, build=build-260188, option=Release

[2011-03-08 14:51:19.843 03480 panic 'ovftool'] Win32 exception: Access Violation (0xc0000005)

   Read (0) at address 00000000

   rip: 7855b9f0 rsp: 0012fb14 rbp: 0012fb20

   rax: 00000000 rbx: 0012fc78 rcx: 00000000

   rdx: 00000004 rdi: 029a3d38 rsi: 0012fc78

(2)

command:"C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware OVF Tool\ovftool.exe" --X:logToConsole "e:\shared\Windows2003EESp2\Clone of Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition.vmx" "e:\shared\1\Clone of Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition_0.vof"

error information:

[2011-03-08 14:51:21.281 01468 verbose 'ovftool'] Subscribing to signal: 2 (SIGINT)

[2011-03-08 14:51:21.281 01468 verbose 'ovftool'] Subscribing to signal: 4 (SIGILL)

[2011-03-08 14:51:21.281 01468 verbose 'ovftool'] Subscribing to signal: 22 (SIGABRT)

[2011-03-08 14:51:21.281 01468 verbose 'ovftool'] Subscribing to signal: 8 (SIGFPE)

[2011-03-08 14:51:21.281 01468 verbose 'ovftool'] Subscribing to signal: 15 (SIGTERM)

[2011-03-08 14:51:21.281 01468 verbose 'ovftool'] [ovfTool.cpp] Using home directory C:\Documents and Settings\tom\Application Data\VMware\ovftool.cfg

[2011-03-08 14:51:21.281 01468 verbose 'ovftool'] [ovfTool.cpp] OvfTool Environment:
/X:fencedMode = "bridged"
/X:imageReadSize = "262144"
/X:logToConsole = "true"
/X:maxNumberOfTermSignals = "5"
/X:maxRedirects = "256"
/X:maximalDeltaConfSize = "8"
/X:maximalDeltaTreeSize = "6"
/X:progressSmoothing = "60"
/X:vimSessionTimeout = "600"
/authdPortSource = "902"
/authdPortTarget = "902"
/prgPath = "C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware OVF Tool"
/source = "e:\shared\Windows2003EESp2\Clone of Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition.vmx"
/target = "e:\shared\1\Clone of Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition_0.vof"

[2011-03-08 14:51:21.296 01468 verbose 'ovftool'] [ovfTool.cpp] Done initializing libs

[2011-03-08 14:51:21.296 01468 verbose 'ovftool'] [ovfTool.cpp] Determining source

[2011-03-08 14:51:21.296 01468 verbose 'ovftool'] [ovfTool.cpp] Determining target

Opening VMX source: e:\shared\Windows2003EESp2\Clone of Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition.vmx
[2011-03-08 14:51:21.359 01468 verbose 'ovftool'] OVF Descriptor: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!--Generated by VMware ovftool 2.0.1 (build-260188), UTC time: 2011-03-08T06:51:21.359375Z-->
<Envelope vmw:buildId="build-260188" xmlns="http://schemas.dmtf.org/ovf/envelope/1" xmlns:cim="http://schemas.dmtf.org/wbem/wscim/1/common" xmlns:ovf="http://schemas.dmtf.org/ovf/envelope/1" xmlns:rasd="http://schemas.dmtf.org/wbem/wscim/1/cim-schema/2/CIM_ResourceAllocationSettingData" xmlns:vmw="http://www.vmware.com/schema/ovf" xmlns:vssd="http://schemas.dmtf.org/wbem/wscim/1/cim-schema/2/CIM_VirtualSystemSettingData" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
  <References>
    <File ovf:href="e%3a%5cshared%5cWindows2003EESp2%5cWindows%20Server%202003%20Enterprise%20Edition-cl1-000005.vmdk" ovf:id="file1"/>
  </References>
  <DiskSection>
    <Info>Virtual disk information</Info>
    <Disk ovf:capacity="8" ovf:capacityAllocationUnits="byte * 2^30" ovf:diskId="vmdisk1" ovf:fileRef="file1" ovf:format="http://www.vmware.com/interfaces/specifications/vmdk.html#streamOptimized"/>
  </DiskSection>
  <NetworkSection>
    <Info>The list of logical networks</Info>
    <Network ovf:name="bridged">
      <Description>The bridged network</Description>
    </Network>
  </NetworkSection>
  <VirtualSystem ovf:id="vm">
    <Info>A virtual machine</Info>
    <Name>Win 2003SP2 Vulnerrability</Name>
    <OperatingSystemSection ovf:id="69" vmw:osType="winNetEnterpriseGuest">
      <Info>The kind of installed guest operating system</Info>
    </OperatingSystemSection>
    <VirtualHardwareSection>
      <Info>Virtual hardware requirements</Info>
      <System>
        <vssd:ElementName>Virtual Hardware Family</vssd:ElementName>
        <vssd:InstanceID>0</vssd:InstanceID>
        <vssd:VirtualSystemIdentifier>Win 2003SP2 Vulnerrability</vssd:VirtualSystemIdentifier>
        <vssd:VirtualSystemType>vmx-07</vssd:VirtualSystemType>
      </System>
      <Item>
        <rasd:AllocationUnits>hertz * 10^6</rasd:AllocationUnits>
        <rasd:Description>Number of Virtual CPUs</rasd:Description>
        <rasd:ElementName>1 virtual CPU(s)</rasd:ElementName>
        <rasd:InstanceID>1</rasd:InstanceID>
        <rasd:ResourceType>3</rasd:ResourceType>
        <rasd:VirtualQuantity>1</rasd:VirtualQuantity>
      </Item>
      <Item>
        <rasd:AllocationUnits>byte * 2^20</rasd:AllocationUnits>
        <rasd:Description>Memory Size</rasd:Description>
        <rasd:ElementName>384MB of memory</rasd:ElementName>
        <rasd:InstanceID>2</rasd:InstanceID>
        <rasd:ResourceType>4</rasd:ResourceType>
        <rasd:VirtualQuantity>384</rasd:VirtualQuantity>
      </Item>
      <Item ovf:required="false">
        <rasd:Address>0</rasd:Address>
        <rasd:Description>USB Controller</rasd:Description>
        <rasd:ElementName>usb</rasd:ElementName>
        <rasd:InstanceID>3</rasd:InstanceID>
        <rasd:ResourceType>23</rasd:ResourceType>
      </Item>
      <Item>
        <rasd:Address>0</rasd:Address>
        <rasd:Description>SCSI Controller</rasd:Description>
        <rasd:ElementName>scsiController0</rasd:ElementName>
        <rasd:InstanceID>4</rasd:InstanceID>
        <rasd:ResourceSubType>lsilogic</rasd:ResourceSubType>
        <rasd:ResourceType>6</rasd:ResourceType>
      </Item>
      <Item>
        <rasd:Address>1</rasd:Address>
        <rasd:Description>IDE Controller</rasd:Description>
        <rasd:ElementName>ideController1</rasd:ElementName>
        <rasd:InstanceID>5</rasd:InstanceID>
        <rasd:ResourceType>5</rasd:ResourceType>
      </Item>
      <Item ovf:required="false">
        <rasd:AddressOnParent>0</rasd:AddressOnParent>
        <rasd:AutomaticAllocation>false</rasd:AutomaticAllocation>
        <rasd:Description>Floppy Drive</rasd:Description>
        <rasd:ElementName>floppy0</rasd:ElementName>
        <rasd:InstanceID>6</rasd:InstanceID>
        <rasd:ResourceType>14</rasd:ResourceType>
      </Item>
      <Item ovf:required="false">
        <rasd:AddressOnParent>0</rasd:AddressOnParent>
        <rasd:AutomaticAllocation>false</rasd:AutomaticAllocation>
        <rasd:ElementName>cdrom1</rasd:ElementName>
        <rasd:InstanceID>7</rasd:InstanceID>
        <rasd:Parent>5</rasd:Parent>
        <rasd:ResourceType>15</rasd:ResourceType>
      </Item>
      <Item>
        <rasd:AddressOnParent>0</rasd:AddressOnParent>
        <rasd:ElementName>disk1</rasd:ElementName>
        <rasd:HostResource>ovf:/disk/vmdisk1</rasd:HostResource>
        <rasd:InstanceID>8</rasd:InstanceID>
        <rasd:Parent>4</rasd:Parent>
        <rasd:ResourceType>17</rasd:ResourceType>
      </Item>
      <Item>
        <rasd:AddressOnParent>2</rasd:AddressOnParent>
        <rasd:AutomaticAllocation>true</rasd:AutomaticAllocation>
        <rasd:Connection>bridged</rasd:Connection>
        <rasd:Description>E1000 ethernet adapter on &quot;bridged&quot;</rasd:Description>
        <rasd:ElementName>ethernet0</rasd:ElementName>
        <rasd:InstanceID>9</rasd:InstanceID>
        <rasd:ResourceSubType>E1000</rasd:ResourceSubType>
        <rasd:ResourceType>10</rasd:ResourceType>
      </Item>
    </VirtualHardwareSection>
    <AnnotationSection ovf:required="false">
      <Info>A human-readable annotation</Info>
      <Annotation>445端口漏洞服务，未做任何服务安装和修改。

Windows2003 企业版 sp2</Annotation>
    </AnnotationSection>
  </VirtualSystem>
</Envelope>

Opening OVF target: e:\shared\1\Clone of Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition_0.vof
Error:

- Line 106: Could not parse the document: 'not well-formed (invalid token)'.

I need to write a script to remotely shotdown a guest VM, export it to .ova format an restart it.

Is there any sample I can start from?

Regards

marius

Hey,

I'm trying to build a utility that builds an OVF, given a flat.vmdk and a .vmdk with the descriptor. But I've found that only streamOptimized disks will export properly, however they only take embedded descriptors. I'm using VSphere 4 to deploy an ovf.

In the ovf, I have the disk format to be ovf:format="http://www.vmware.com/interfaces/specifications/vmdk.html#streamOptimized". This works perfectly fine until VSphere gets to reading the vmdk file where it gives the error message "Error uploading file C:\path\to\scsi0_0.vmdk to server. I/O exception while reading VMDK header", where the header is,

I guess my question is, does deploying ovfs support any other format other than streamOptimized where I can use a flat.vmdk and a .vmdk?

Thank you,

Kyle

Hi , there !

i got problem when i deploy a .ova file , when the process of deploying is around 98 99 % an error comes say u can't go any farther !!!

this is a complete log of what it says !!!

******************************************************************

C:\Documents and Settings\SOLMATE\Desktop>"C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware OVF Tool\ovftool.exe" --X:logToConsole "K:\Win 2008 X64 -Sharepoint 2 - IP_65.122  200G -8G(Ram).ova" k:\'

"C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware OVF Tool\ovftool.exe"' is not recognized as an internal or external command,operable program or batch file.

C:\Documents and Settings\SOLMATE\Desktop>"C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware OVF Tool\ovftool.exe" --X:logToConsole "K:\Win 2008 X64 -Sharepoint 2 - IP_65.122  200
G -8G(Ram).ova" k:\
2011-09-28T11:38:38.318+03:30 [05000 verbose 'Default'] Subscribing to signal: 2 (SIGINT)
2011-09-28T11:38:38.318+03:30 [05000 verbose 'Default'] Subscribing to signal: 4 (SIGILL)
2011-09-28T11:38:38.318+03:30 [05000 verbose 'Default'] Subscribing to signal: 22 (SIGABRT)
2011-09-28T11:38:38.318+03:30 [05000 verbose 'Default'] Subscribing to signal: 8 (SIGFPE)
2011-09-28T11:38:38.318+03:30 [05000 verbose 'Default'] Subscribing to signal: 15 (SIGTERM)
2011-09-28T11:38:38.318+03:30 [05000 verbose 'Default'] [ovfTool.cpp] Using home directory C:\Documents and Settings\SOLMATE\Application Data\VMware\ovftool.cfg
2011-09-28T11:38:38.318+03:30 [05000 verbose 'Default'] [ovfTool.cpp] OvfTool Environment:
--> /X:httpTimeout = "600"
--> /X:imageReadSize = "262144"
--> /X:logToConsole = "true"
--> /X:maxNumberOfTermSignals = "5"
--> /X:maxRedirects = "256"
--> /X:maximalDeltaConfSize = "8"
--> /X:maximalDeltaTreeSize = "6"
--> /X:progressSmoothing = "60"
--> /X:useMacNaming = "false"
--> /X:vCloudKeepTemplate = "true"
--> /X:vCloudTimeout = "3600"
--> /X:vimSessionTimeout = "600"
--> /authdPortSource = "902"
--> /authdPortTarget = "902"
--> /fencedMode = "bridged"
--> /prgPath = "C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware OVF Tool"
--> /source = "K:\Win 2008 X64 -Sharepoint 2 - IP_65.122  200G -8G(Ram).ova"
--> /target = "k:\"
-->
2011-09-28T11:38:38.396+03:30 [05000 verbose 'Default'] [ovfTool.cpp] Done initializing libs
2011-09-28T11:38:38.396+03:30 [05000 verbose 'Default'] [ovfTool.cpp] Determining source
2011-09-28T11:38:38.396+03:30 [05000 verbose 'Default'] [ovfTool.cpp] Determining target
Opening OVA source: K:\Win 2008 X64 -Sharepoint 2 - IP_65.122  200G -8G(Ram).ova

2011-09-28T11:38:38.490+03:30 [05000 verbose 'Default'] OVF Descriptor: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
--> <!--Generated by VMware VirtualCenter Server, User: Administrator, UTC time: 2011-07-30T02:20:18.871093Z-->
--> <Envelope vmw:buildId="build-345043" xmlns="http://schemas.dmtf.org/ovf/envelope/1" xmlns:cim="http://schemas.dmtf.org/wbem/wscim/1/common" xmlns:ovf="http:
//schemas.dmtf.org/ovf/envelope/1" xmlns:rasd="http://schemas.dmtf.org/wbem/wscim/1/cim-schema/2/CIM_ResourceAllocationSettingData" xmlns:vmw="http://www.vmware.com/schema/ovf" xmlns:vssd="http://schemas.dmtf.org/wbem/wscim/1/cim-schema/2/CIM_VirtualSystemSettingData" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
-->   <References>
-->     <File ovf:href="Win_2008_X64_-Sharepoint_2_-_IP_65.122__200G_-8G(Ram)-disk1.vmdk" ovf:id="file1" ovf:size="30856148480" />
-->     <File ovf:href="Win_2008_X64_-Sharepoint_2_-_IP_65.122__200G_-8G(Ram)-file1.iso" ovf:id="file2" ovf:size="3735289856" />
-->   </References>
-->   <DiskSection>
-->     <Info>Virtual disk information</Info>
-->     <Disk ovf:capacity="200" ovf:capacityAllocationUnits="byte * 2^30" ovf:diskId="vmdisk1" ovf:fileRef="file1" ovf:format="http://www.vmware.com/interfaces
/specifications/vmdk.html#streamOptimized" ovf:populatedSize="45460160512" />
-->   </DiskSection>
-->   <NetworkSection>
-->     <Info>The list of logical networks</Info>
-->     <Network ovf:name="LAN">
-->       <Description>The LAN network</Description>
-->     </Network>
-->   </NetworkSection>
-->   <VirtualSystem ovf:id="Win 2008 X64 -Sharepoint 2 - IP:65.122  200G -8G(Ram)">
-->     <Info>A virtual machine</Info>
-->     <Name>Win 2008 X64 -Sharepoint 2 - IP:65.122  200G -8G(Ram)</Name>
-->     <OperatingSystemSection ovf:id="1" vmw:osType="windows7Server64Guest">
-->       <Info>The kind of installed guest operating system</Info>
-->       <Description>Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 (64-bit)</Description>
-->     </OperatingSystemSection>
-->     <VirtualHardwareSection>
-->       <Info>Virtual hardware requirements</Info>
-->       <System>
-->         <vssd:ElementName>Virtual Hardware Family</vssd:ElementName>
-->         <vssd:InstanceID>0</vssd:InstanceID>
-->         <vssd:VirtualSystemIdentifier>Win 2008 X64 -Sharepoint 2 - IP:65.122  200G -8G(Ram)</vssd:VirtualSystemIdentifier>
-->         <vssd:VirtualSystemType>vmx-07</vssd:VirtualSystemType>
-->       </System>
-->       <Item>
-->         <rasd:AllocationUnits>hertz * 10^6</rasd:AllocationUnits>
-->         <rasd:Description>Number of Virtual CPUs</rasd:Description>
-->         <rasd:ElementName>4 virtual CPU(s)</rasd:ElementName>
-->         <rasd:InstanceID>1</rasd:InstanceID>
-->         <rasd:ResourceType>3</rasd:ResourceType>
-->         <rasd:VirtualQuantity>4</rasd:VirtualQuantity>
-->       </Item>
-->       <Item>
-->         <rasd:AllocationUnits>byte * 2^20</rasd:AllocationUnits>
-->         <rasd:Description>Memory Size</rasd:Description>
-->         <rasd:ElementName>8192MB of memory</rasd:ElementName>
-->         <rasd:InstanceID>2</rasd:InstanceID>
-->         <rasd:ResourceType>4</rasd:ResourceType>
-->         <rasd:VirtualQuantity>8192</rasd:VirtualQuantity>
-->       </Item>
-->       <Item ovf:required="false">
-->         <rasd:Address>0</rasd:Address>
-->         <rasd:Description>USB Controller</rasd:Description>
-->         <rasd:ElementName>USB controller</rasd:ElementName>
-->         <rasd:InstanceID>3</rasd:InstanceID>
-->         <rasd:ResourceType>23</rasd:ResourceType>
-->       </Item>
-->       <Item>
-->         <rasd:Address>0</rasd:Address>
-->         <rasd:Description>SCSI Controller</rasd:Description>
-->         <rasd:ElementName>SCSI controller 0</rasd:ElementName>
-->         <rasd:InstanceID>4</rasd:InstanceID>
-->         <rasd:ResourceSubType>lsilogicsas</rasd:ResourceSubType>
-->         <rasd:ResourceType>6</rasd:ResourceType>
-->       </Item>
-->       <Item>
-->         <rasd:Address>1</rasd:Address>
-->         <rasd:Description>IDE Controller</rasd:Description>
-->         <rasd:ElementName>IDE 1</rasd:ElementName>
-->         <rasd:InstanceID>5</rasd:InstanceID>
-->         <rasd:ResourceType>5</rasd:ResourceType>
-->       </Item>
-->       <Item>
-->         <rasd:Address>0</rasd:Address>
-->         <rasd:Description>IDE Controller</rasd:Description>
-->         <rasd:ElementName>IDE 0</rasd:ElementName>
-->         <rasd:InstanceID>6</rasd:InstanceID>
-->         <rasd:ResourceType>5</rasd:ResourceType>
-->       </Item>
-->       <Item>
-->         <rasd:AddressOnParent>0</rasd:AddressOnParent>
-->         <rasd:ElementName>Hard disk 1</rasd:ElementName>
-->         <rasd:HostResource>ovf:/disk/vmdisk1</rasd:HostResource>
-->         <rasd:InstanceID>7</rasd:InstanceID>
-->         <rasd:Parent>4</rasd:Parent>
-->         <rasd:ResourceType>17</rasd:ResourceType>
-->       </Item>
-->       <Item>
-->         <rasd:AddressOnParent>0</rasd:AddressOnParent>
-->         <rasd:AutomaticAllocation>true</rasd:AutomaticAllocation>
-->         <rasd:ElementName>CD/DVD Drive 1</rasd:ElementName>
-->         <rasd:HostResource>ovf:/file/file2</rasd:HostResource>
-->         <rasd:InstanceID>8</rasd:InstanceID>
-->         <rasd:Parent>5</rasd:Parent>
-->         <rasd:ResourceType>15</rasd:ResourceType>
-->       </Item>
-->       <Item>
-->         <rasd:AddressOnParent>7</rasd:AddressOnParent>
-->         <rasd:AutomaticAllocation>true</rasd:AutomaticAllocation>
-->         <rasd:Connection>LAN</rasd:Connection>
-->         <rasd:Description>E1000 ethernet adapter on "LAN"</rasd:Description>

-->         <rasd:ElementName>Network adapter 1</rasd:ElementName>
-->         <rasd:InstanceID>9</rasd:InstanceID>
-->         <rasd:ResourceSubType>E1000</rasd:ResourceSubType>
-->         <rasd:ResourceType>10</rasd:ResourceType>
-->       </Item>
-->       <Item ovf:required="false">
-->         <rasd:AddressOnParent>0</rasd:AddressOnParent>
-->         <rasd:AutomaticAllocation>false</rasd:AutomaticAllocation>
-->         <rasd:Description>Floppy Drive</rasd:Description>
-->         <rasd:ElementName>Floppy drive 1</rasd:ElementName>
-->         <rasd:InstanceID>10</rasd:InstanceID>
-->         <rasd:ResourceType>14</rasd:ResourceType>
-->       </Item>
-->     </VirtualHardwareSection>
-->   </VirtualSystem>
--> </Envelope>
Opening VMX target: k:\
2011-09-28T11:38:44.896+03:30 [05000 verbose 'Default'] Creating disk k:\Win 2008 X64 -Sharepoint 2 - IP_65.122  200G -8G(Ram)\Win 2008 X64 -Sharepoint 2 - IP_65.122  200G -8G(Ram)-disk1.vmdk, 419430400 sectors, lsilogicWriting VMX file: k:\Win 2008 X64 -Sharepoint 2 - IP_65.122  200G -8G(Ram)\Win 2008 X64 -Sharepoint 2 - IP_65.122  200G -8G(Ram).vmx
2011-09-28T11:38:46.802+03:30 [05000 verbose 'Default'] Using file size as progress measure Disk Transfer Failed Error: Invalid access to memory location.
2011-09-28T11:38:46.865+03:30 [05000 verbose 'Default'] Backtrace:
--> backtrace[00] rip 0175fd23 (no symbol)
--> backtrace[01] rip 0166eb5e (no symbol)
--> backtrace[02] rip 0166f801 (no symbol)
--> backtrace[03] rip 0162f99a (no symbol)
--> backtrace[04] rip 01626bc2 (no symbol)
--> backtrace[05] rip 0175f44b (no symbol)
--> backtrace[06] rip 01673622 (no symbol)
--> backtrace[07] rip 0176f018 (no symbol)
--> backtrace[08] rip 0041a76e (no symbol)
--> backtrace[09] rip 0047fb6a (no symbol)
--> backtrace[10] rip 00480c62 (no symbol)
--> backtrace[11] rip 0041e4d5 (no symbol)
--> backtrace[12] rip 0043de50 (no symbol)
--> backtrace[13] rip 00467136 (no symbol)
--> backtrace[14] rip 004674bd (no symbol)
--> backtrace[15] rip 00418474 (no symbol)
--> backtrace[16] rip 004186f4 (no symbol)
--> backtrace[17] rip 005e82ff (no symbol)
--> backtrace[18] rip 7c817067 (no symbol)
-->
2011-09-28T11:38:46.865+03:30 [05000 verbose 'Default'] Deleting file: k:\Win 2008 X64 -Sharepoint 2 - IP_65.122  200G -8G(Ram)\Win 2008 X64 -Sharepoint 2 - IP_65.122  200G -8G(Ram)-disk1.vmdk
Deleting directory: k:\Win 2008 X64 -Sharepoint 2 - IP_65.122  200G -8G(Ram)
Completed with errors

*************************************************************************************************

Ps : i can't deploy my ova file with deploy OVF Template... in Esx and neither with ovatool !!
any idea ?

Hi all,

I am trying to implement an OVF support for some virtualization software, which is using raw images for disks. I use qemu-img to convert raw images to vmdk format. Then I use ovftool to convert ovf file into vmware instance.

When the file I have is a simple ovf descriptor + manifest + disk - all is fine, it works even if I'm using qemu-img without "compat6" option

When the disk is compressed or the OVF package is packed into OVA - there are errors being thrown. Moreover when I create OVA package with no disk, the conversion works.

Here is the fragment of results for the OVA file:

Writing VMX file: test_ova.vmx
[2011-10-03 16:34:35.685 7F097D2C1720 verbose 'ovftool'] Using file size as progress measure
Disk progress: 0%[2011-10-03 16:34:35.685 7F097D2C1720 verbose 'ovftool'] Ovf::GetFileSource as StreamVmdk failed. Exception: Cannot open disk source: Not a supported disk format (sparse VMDK version too old)
Disk Transfer Failed                      
Error: Failed to open source disk: 3f66f54d-a9fa-4aa8-806d-d757d6f34a59.disk0.vmdk
[2011-10-03 16:34:35.685 7F097D2C1720 verbose 'ovftool'] Backtrace:
[00] rip 00007f09767453e4 
[01] rip 00007f09765e99d4 
[02] rip 00007f097658e038 
[03] rip 00000000004fef51 
[04] rip 000000000054aaa5 
[05] rip 000000000054ae78 
[06] rip 000000000049c41a 
[07] rip 00007f0974e62c4d 
[08] rip 000000000047ec7a 

[2011-10-03 16:34:35.685 7F097D2C1720 verbose 'ovftool'] Deleting file: ./test_ova-disk1.vmdk

Same fragment when I unpack OVA and then run ovftool on the .ovf file:

Writing VMX file: test_ovf.vmx
[2011-10-03 16:35:53.934 7F7E899C4720 verbose 'ovftool'] Using file size as progress measure
Disk progress: 0%[2011-10-03 16:35:53.935 7F7E899C4720 verbose 'ovftool'] Ovf::GetFileSource as StreamVmdk failed. Exception: Cannot open disk source: Not a supported disk format (sparse VMDK version too old)
Disk progress: 99%[2011-10-03 16:35:54.106 7F7E899C4720 verbose 'ovftool'] Ovf::GetFileSource: Opened 3f66f54d-a9fa-4aa8-806d-d757d6f34a59.disk0.vmdk as diskLib source
[2011-10-03 16:35:54.106 7F7E899C4720 verbose 'ovftool'] Opening disk target /xcinstall-1.corp.google.com/VirtualLsiLogicController0:0
Disk Transfer Completed                   
Completed successfully

Thank you.

Hi All,

I have just come across ovftool and was giving a try to it. I am fairly new to VMware world.

I have a  .OVF which I exported using vSphere client 4.0. This .OVF comprises of 3 Suse Linux based virtual machines. i.e. I created a vApp on ESX (4.1) host, in this vApp I put my 3 SLES VMs and then exported it as OVF.

It has a total size of around 4.5GB.

Now I ran this command to compress this .OVF as well as gave an option to create deltadisks.

C:\> ovftool --compress=9 --makeDeltaDisks --skipManifestCheck  MyVMCluster\MyVMCluster.ovf   E:\

output:

{{{

The manifest does not validate
Generating delta disks for 2 disks (capacity 40960 MB)
Reading disks
Disk Transfer Completed

Determining optimal configuration for capacity group
Writing configuration to disk
Disk Transfer Completed

Completed successfully

}}}

Now when I checked my E:\ It had created a folder with the same name and put related files there. I saw a significant reduction in the new vmdk size. ( around 2.3GB now )

Now when I manually deploy this new ovf on vSphere client, it goes till certain %age and then flags an error:

{{{

Error uploading file to server ( E:\MyVMCluster\disk3.vmdk.gz ) Not a supported disk format ( Invalid sparse vmdk header )

}}}

and then it stops and everything rolledback.

Any pointers ?

Thanks

Nikunj

Hi- has anyone hit any problems with exporting large (e.g. > 1TB) VMs in OVA/OVF format?

I realise that you can split the files generated, but leaving aside any issues to do with the file-system on which the files reside, are there any inherent gotchas with the export mechanism or the file format that would mean it's not a good idea to rely on this for exporting large VMs...?

Thanks!