Save a vApp as a vApp Template to a Catalog in the VMware Cloud Director Tenant Portal

By adding a vApp to a catalog, you convert the particular vApp to a vApp template.

When you add a vApp to a catalog, the vApp template includes the placement and sizing policies of the source vApp as unmodifiable tags.

Important: Saving a vApp as a vApp template also saves the guest OS password in the template, and the password becomes visible to anyone with access to the template.

For more information on VMs with Trusted Platform Module (TPM) devices, see Working with Virtual Machines in the VMware Cloud Director Tenant Portal.

Prerequisites

• Verify that you are logged in as a vApp Author or a role with an equivalent set of rights.

• Verify that your organization must have a catalog and a virtual data center (VDC) with available space.

• If you want to add a VM with a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) device, verify that a VDC that supports TPM backs the VM.

Procedure

1. On the Virtual Data Center dashboard screen, click the card of the VDC you want to explore, and from the secondary left panel, select vApps.
2. Click to view the vApps in a card view.
3. From the Actions menu of the vApp you want to add to a catalog, select Create Template.
   Note: You can add vApps to a catalog even if the virtual machines that belong to the vApp are in a running state. However, if you select a running vApp, it is added to the catalog as a vApp template, and all the virtual machines are in a suspended state.
4. Select the destination catalog from the Catalog drop-down menu.
5. Enter a name and, optionally, a description for the vApp template.
6. (Optional) Select Overwrite catalog item if you want the new catalog item to overwrite any existing vApp template and select the catalog item to overwrite.
   For example, when you upload a new version of a vApp to the catalog, you might want to overwrite the old version.
7. Specify how the template must be used.
   The setting applies when you are creating a vApp based on the vApp template. It is ignored when you build a vApp by using individual virtual machines from this template.

   Option	Description
   Make identical copy	Select to make an identical copy of the vApp when you create a vApp from the vApp template. Note: When creating a new vApp from this template, the vApp retains the source vApp network settings, including the external network and all vApp firewall rules.
   Customize VM settings	Select to enable customization of the virtual machine settings when you create a vApp from the vApp template. Note: When creating a new vApp from this template, the vApp retains the source vApp network settings, including the external network, while replacing the customized firewall rule configurations with the default ones. You cannot change the firewall rule configurations when creating the vApp template.

8. If one or more VMs in the vApp have a TPM device, select to copy or replace the devices.

   When you copy the TPM devices, you create identical copies of the devices with the same secrets. You might need to use this option if the VMs on the copied vApp cannot work without the same secrets. When you use the replace option, you create TPM devices with new secrets. Replacing the TPM devices improves the security of the VMs because less devices use the same secrets.

9. Click OK.

Results

The vApp template appears in the specified catalog.