Several ways to interact with vsphere and workstation virtual machines (ii)

2 using OVF file interaction in workstation and vsphere

You can export a virtual machine to an OVF file in workstation or vsphere, and then interact with the virtual machine in vsphere or workstation by importing the OVF file. When using OVF files to interact between workstation and vsphere, be aware of the versions of Workstation virtual machines and vsphere products. For example, for virtual machines created in VMware Workstation 12, the default is 12.0 hardware format, the OVF exported in Workstation cannot be imported into ESXi (because the current ESXi highest version is 6.0 and the maximum is supported to 11 hardware versions). If you are importing a virtual machine of workstation 12 into vsphere 6, you need to modify the hardware version to 11 before exporting the OVF file. Similarly, virtual machines created in ESXi 6, if the virtual machine hardware version is 11, need to be imported into workstation 11 only, and cannot be imported into workstation 10. However, if the virtual machine hardware version 9 is used in ESXi 6, when the virtual machines are created, they can be imported into the workstation version of Workstation 9 and below. In ESXi, once a virtual machine is created, the hardware version of its virtual machine can only be "upgraded", and in workstation, the hardware version of the virtual machine can be upgraded or degraded by "change hardware Compatibility".

The corresponding relationship between the virtual machine hardware version and the workstation, ESXi version is shown in table 1-1.

Table 1-1 virtual Machine hardware version and its supported minimum workstation and ESXI version corresponding table

650) this.width=650; "src=" Http://s3.51cto.com/wyfs02/M01/8B/C4/wKiom1hXzirRXu5uAAAJcOp1EZ4141.png "/>

2.1 Exporting an OVF in vsphere

The main steps for exporting a virtual machine as an OVF in vsphere are as follows.

(1) Using vsphere Client (vsphere Web client, for example in Vsphere client), connect to ESXi or vcenter Server, close the virtual machine ready to export as an OVF file, then modify the virtual machine settings, modify the " The CD, DVD drive is "client device", as shown in 1-14.

650) this.width=650; "src=" Http://s3.51cto.com/wyfs02/M01/8B/C1/wKioL1hXziuzoFv_AAFt5cxEej4829.png "/>

Figure 1-14 Modifying virtual machine settings

(2) Select a power-off virtual machine in the list on the left, and select export → export ovf template from the File menu, as shown in 1-15.

650) this.width=650; "src=" Http://s3.51cto.com/wyfs02/M02/8B/C4/wKiom1hXziuyBteoAAGAeuu9HcE301.png "/>

Figure 1-15 Exporting an OVF template

(3) in the Export OVF Template dialog box, set the name of the export, select the exported directory, and in the Format list, select whether to export a folder (OVF) or a single file (OVA), as shown in 1-16.

650) this.width=650; "src=" Http://s3.51cto.com/wyfs02/M00/8B/C4/wKiom1hXzivhSAlBAAB0UEQTX3A285.png "/>

Figure 1-16 Exporting an OVF template

(4) Then start exporting the OVF template until the export is complete, as shown in 1-17.

650) this.width=650; "src=" Http://s3.51cto.com/wyfs02/M02/8B/C1/wKioL1hXzivC9wskAABUkPt5SmM470.png "/>

Figure 1-17 Export Template

Description: The folder location of the OVF and OVA files. If you type C:\OvfLib as the new OVF folder, set the virtual machine name to MYVM, the following files may be created:

• C:\OvfLib\MyVm\MyVm.ovf

• C:\OvfLib\ MyVm \MYVM.MF

• C:\OvfLib\ MyVm \MYVM-DISK1.VMDK

If you type C:\NewFolder\OvfLib as the new OVF folder and set the virtual machine name to MYVM, the following files may be created:

• C:\NewFolder\OvfLib\MyVm\MyVm.ovf

• C:\NewFolder\OvfLib\ MYVM\MYVM.MF

• C:\NewFolder\OvfLib\ MYVM\MYVM-DISK1.VMDK

As shown in Figure 1-18, this is the file that is exported when you use D:\ESXI-OVF\WS12R2-TP as a folder, ws12r2-02 as the virtual machine name.

650) this.width=650; "src=" Http://s3.51cto.com/wyfs02/M00/8B/C1/wKioL1hXziyjkKQJAAC3mVeKxB0753.png "/>

Figure 1-18 Exporting an OVF file

If you select Export to OVA format and type MyVm, the C:\MyVm.ova file is created. As shown in 1-19, this is d:\esxi-ovf as a folder, WS03R2-TP as a virtual machine name when exporting a single OVA file.

650) this.width=650; "src=" Http://s3.51cto.com/wyfs02/M01/8B/C4/wKiom1hXziyBk6DXAADFqLXbO-c366.png "/>

Figure 1-19 Exporting an OVA

2.2 Deploying an OVF template in vsphere

When you connect directly to a host using vsphere client, you can deploy the OVF template through a local file system that is accessible to the vsphere client computer or through a Web URL.

(1) Using vsphere Client to log in to Vcenter Server, select "Deploy OVF template" on the "File" menu, as shown in 1-20.

650) this.width=650; "src=" Http://s3.51cto.com/wyfs02/M01/8B/C1/wKioL1hXzizDb1ZuAAGcdhiGsoY394.png "/>

Figure 1-20 Deploying the OVF template

(2) In the Source dialog box, click the Browse button to select the OVF or OVA template, as shown in 1-21.

(3) in the OVF Template Details dialog box, display the template virtual machine to be deployed, the amount of disk space used (thin disk footprint and thick provisioned disk footprint), as shown in 1-22.

650) this.width=650; "src=" Http://s3.51cto.com/wyfs02/M00/8B/C4/wKiom1hXzizzwxvzAACkJzVOJMk819.png "/>650) this.width=650; "src=" Http://s3.51cto.com/wyfs02/M02/8B/C4/wKiom1hXzi2x1JAaAACWUryylW8323.png "/>

Figure 1-21 Browse to select template diagram 1-22 ovf template details

(4) in the Name and Location dialog box, specify a name and location for your deployment template, as shown in 1-23.

(5) in "Host/cluster", select the template to run the deployment on that host or cluster, as shown in 1-24.

650) this.width=650; "src=" Http://s3.51cto.com/wyfs02/M00/8B/C1/wKioL1hXzi2guJOiAACaM0T8Gbo233.png "/>650) this.width=650; "src=" Http://s3.51cto.com/wyfs02/M01/8B/C4/wKiom1hXzi3yLY2EAABzHnLiea4244.png "/>

Figure 1-23 Name and location figure 1-24 Selecting a host or cluster

(6) In the Resource Pool dialog box, select the resource pool in which you want to deploy the template, as shown in 1-25.

(7) in the "Memory" dialog box, choose where to store the virtual machine files, you can select as needed, 1-26 is shown.

650) this.width=650; "src=" Http://s3.51cto.com/wyfs02/M02/8B/C1/wKioL1hXzi2DMKcCAACykvvxV0Q705.png "/>650) this.width=650; "src=" Http://s3.51cto.com/wyfs02/M01/8B/C1/wKioL1hXzi7xyWd6AAE8Tk1MDdg117.png "/>

Figure 1-25 Resource pool Figure 1-26 memory

(8) In the Disk Format dialog box, select the format in which to store the virtual disk, as shown in 1-27.

(9) In the Network Mapping dialog box, select What network you are using for your deployed virtual machines, as shown in 1-28.

650) this.width=650; "src=" Http://s3.51cto.com/wyfs02/M00/8B/C4/wKiom1hXzi-gcQ-5AACalcc_rYU747.png "/>650) this.width=650; "src=" Http://s3.51cto.com/wyfs02/M02/8B/C4/wKiom1hXzjGQFbatAACxTxRBEG8169.png "/>

Figure 1-27 Disk format Figure 1-28 Network Map

(10) in the "Coming to Completion" dialog, which shows the deployment information, check the error, click the "Finish" button, 1-29.

650) this.width=650; "src=" Http://s3.51cto.com/wyfs02/M00/8B/C1/wKioL1hXzjTBZ-UKAADAW8dHyyM743.png "/>

Figure 1-29 is about to complete

(11) Then start deploying the virtual machine until the deployment is complete, as shown in 1-30.

650) this.width=650; "src=" Http://s3.51cto.com/wyfs02/M01/8B/C4/wKiom1hXzjaxvuJgAABe-qTaIhk863.png "/>

Figure 1-30 Deployment Complete

After deployment, the virtual machine appears in the manifest, as shown in 1-31.

650) this.width=650; "src=" Http://s3.51cto.com/wyfs02/M01/8B/C1/wKioL1hXzjzyrAe1AAGgP3fbA4w385.png "/>

Figure 1-31 Deploying a virtual machine from a template

This article is from the "Wang Chunhai blog" blog, make sure to keep this source http://wangchunhai.blog.51cto.com/225186/1884053

Several ways to interact with vsphere and workstation virtual machines (ii)