Page History

...

There are several options for VMware software.  Options 2 & 3 require the VMware OVF Tool, find the tool by doing a search on google or by visiting VMware's site, the other requires VMware Fusion (for Mac).  Options 2 & 3 assume you have it installed and know where it is.

1. Importing the OVA file directly to ESXi

You can import the OVA file directly into ESXi using ovftool, from the PC or server you run ovftool, run . Run the command like this:

Remember to set the Virtual Machine name you like, the datastore you want, and point it at the server you want to deploy to.

2. Importing the OVA file to an ESXi Datacenter via vCenter

You can import the OVA file into an ESXi Datacenter via vCenter using ovftool, from the PC or server you run ovftool. Run commands like this:

• In this example the vCenter 6.5 install has created:

  • FQDN 'photon-machine' with

    • user 'administrator',

    • sso domain name 'vsphere.localdomain', and

    • sso password 'Vagrant1!'

      • which must be escaped when used in this context using ovftool:

        • escaped  password: 'Vagrant1\!'

• ovftool option that should be determined appropriate to this use case for this OVA import:
  • --diskMode
    

    Specify the disk format. You can specify the following formats:

    • monolithicSparse 

    • monolithicFlat

    • twoGbMaxExtentSparse

    • twoGbMaxExtentFlat

    • seSparse (vSphere target)

    • eagerZeroedThick (vSphere target)

    • thin(vSphere target)

    • thick (vSphere target)

    • sparse

    • flat

• 
  

  Determine the Datacenter name: ovftool vi://administrator@vsphere.localdomain:Vagrant1\!@photon-machine Error: Found wrong kind of object (Folder). Possible completions are: Datacenter1/ Determine the Datacenter available options: ovftool vi://administrator@vsphere.localdomain:Vagrant1\!@photon-machine/Datacenter1/ Error: Found wrong kind of object (Datacenter). Possible completions are: vm/ host/ Determine the Datacenter host IP or FQDN: ovftool vi://administrator@vsphere.localdomain:Vagrant1\!@photon-machine/Datacenter1/host/ Error: Found wrong kind of object (Folder). Possible completions are: 172.16.37.128/ Import Opmantek-20200708-VM9-Centos7.2003-3-64bit.ova which is in the current directory, in this example using vSphere option --diskMode=thin: ls -la -rw-rw-r-- 1 user user 903864320 Jul 29 13:09 Opmantek-20200708-VM9-Centos7.2003-3-64bit.ova ovftool --acceptAllEulas --diskMode=thin Opmantek-20200708-VM9-Centos7.2003-3-64bit.ova vi://administrator@vsphere.localdomain:Vagrant1\!@photon-machine/Datacenter1/host/172.16.37.128 Opening OVA source: Opmantek-20200708-VM9-Centos7.2003-3-64bit.ova Opening VI target: vi://administrator%40vsphere.localdomain@172.16.37.130:443/Datacenter1/host/172.16.37.128 Deploying to VI: vi://administrator%40vsphere.localdomain@172.16.37.130:443/Datacenter1/host/172.16.37.128 Transfer Completed Warning: - No supported manifest(sha1, sha256, sha512) entry found for: 'omk-vm9-centos7-disk001.vmdk'. - No supported manifest(sha1, sha256, sha512) entry found for: 'omk-vm9-centos7-disk002.vmdk'. - No manifest file found. Completed successfully

  
  

3. Upgrade the Virtual machine hardware version (optional)

The Opmantek Virtual Appliance ships with the virtual machine hardware version set very low for maximum compatibility, but you may want to upgrade the hardware version to a higher level (to leverage performance benefits, remove memory limitations, etc.) as described on the VMware website.

VirtualBox

VirtualBox will import directly from an OVF/OVA file so you can just start up VirtualBox and select "Import Appliance..."

...