If you have system administrator rights, you can import vCenter VMs to VMware Cloud Director as vApp templates in catalogs.

Starting with 10.4.2, importing a VM containing a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) device as a vApp template creates a template that copies the TPM device during instantiation.

Prerequisites

  • To see and import VMs from vCenter as vApp templates, verify that you have system administrator rights.
  • 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 instances, verify that the key provider used to encrypt each VM is registered on the target vCenter instance under the same name.
    • For operations across vCenter instances, verify that the VM and the target vCenter instance are on the same shared storage or that fast cross vCenter vApp instantiation is enabled.

Procedure

  1. From the primary left navigation panel, select Content Hub, from the secondary left panel, select Content, and select the vApp Templates tab.
    The list of templates appears in a grid view.
  2. Click Import from vCenter.
  3. From the drop-down menu, select a vCenter instance from which to import the vApp template.
  4. Select a template from the list of virtual machines.
  5. Enter a name and, optionally, a description for the vApp template.
  6. From the drop-down menu, select a catalog to which to add the vApp template.
  7. If you want VMware Cloud Director to take ownership of the VM, toggle on the Move Virtual Machine option.

    When you turn on the Move Virtual Machine toggle, VMware Cloud Director starts managing the VM instead of vCenter. 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.

  8. (Optional) Mark the vApp template as a preferred template in the catalog.
  9. Click Import.