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.