You can import a virtual machine (VM) from a vCenter Server instance to an existing vApp.

Starting with VMware Cloud Director 10.4.2, you can import VMs with Trusted Platform Module (TPM) devices. Importing a VM containing a TPM device as a vApp preserves the TPM device for the copy and move operations. For more information on VMs with TPM devices, see Working with Virtual Machines.

Prerequisites

  • Verify that you are logged in as a system administrator.
  • For VMware Cloud Director 10.4.2 and later, if you want work with VMs with TPM devices, verify that the following criteria are met.
    • A VDC that supports TPM backs the VM.
    • For operations across vCenter Server instances, verify that the key provider used to encrypt each VM is registered on the target vCenter Server instance under the same name.
    • For operations across vCenter Server instances, verify that the VM and the target vCenter Server instance are on the same shared storage or that fast cross vCenter Server vApp instantiation is enabled. See the fast cross vCenter Server vApp instantiation information in the VMware Cloud Director 10.4 Release Notes.

Procedure

  1. On the Virtual Data Center dashboard screen, click the card of the virtual data center you want to explore, and from the left panel, select vApps.
  2. Click Card Icon to view the vApps in a card view.
  3. From the Actions menu of the vApp to which you want to add a virtual machine, select Import VM from vCenter.
  4. From the vCenter drop-down menu, select a vCenter Server instance.
  5. Click the radio button next to the VM you want to import.
  6. (Optional) Edit the name of the VM and enter a meaningful VM description.
  7. (Optional) Select a storage policy for the VM.
  8. If you want VMware Cloud Director to take ownership of the VM, toggle on the Move Virtual Machine (delete source) option.

    When you turn on the Move Virtual Machine (delete source) toggle, VMware Cloud Director starts managing the VM instead of vCenter Server. VMware Cloud Director attempts to import the VM without deleting the source VM. If the datastore, storage policy, or other factors are incompatible with the selected VDC, VMware Cloud Director clones the VM and deletes the source VM. If you want to keep the source VM and VMware Cloud Director to manage a copy, leave the toggle turned off.

  9. Click Import to add the VM to the vApp.