We would like to build a windows 2008 appliance, with our product installed and configured. Our product need some application variables/parameters which change from deployment to depolyment (like IP, tomcat port, custom timezones, organization name etc. to generate SSL certs ) .
I posted this query in VMware Studio community http://communities.vmware.com/message/2117968#2117968
I added few variables/parameters through vCenter and exported the OVF. Tried to depoloy this OVF in another vCenter. After deployment (and when I tried to power on) it prompted to fill the values for the parameters. I filled them in vCenter and powered on the VM.
When the VM boots, tried to run the rpctool.exe command that you mentioned above and it says 'No value found'. Reinstalled/upgraded VMware Tools on this VM again, and run the command. No difference. It still says 'No value found'.
Examined the OVF file, found that the parameters I entered are stored in <ProductSection> section of the OVF XML ( I expected them in <Environment> section) under <VirtualSystem>, like below.
<ProductSection>
<Info>Information about the installed software</Info>
<Category>serverip</Category>
<Property ovf:key="serverip" ovf:type="string" vmw:qualifiers="AutoIp("VM Network")">
<Label>serverip</Label>
</Property>
<Category>servername</Category>
<Property ovf:key="servername" ovf:type="string" ovf:userConfigurable="true">
<Label>servername</Label>
</Property>
<Category>tomcatport</Category>
<Property ovf:key="tomcatport" ovf:qualifiers="MaxValue(5000)" ovf:type="uint16" ovf:userConfigurable="true">
<Label>tomcatport</Label>
</Property>
</ProductSection>
</VirtualSystem>
What went wrong for me ? Why I didn't get the variables through VMware tools ? Please clarify.