VM Templates in the Content Library and VM Templates in the vCenter Server Inventory
- If you convert the VM template in the vCenter Server inventory to a virtual machine, the corresponding VM template library item is also deleted.
- If you rename the VM template in the vCenter Server, the corresponding VM template library item is also renamed.
- If you rename the VM template library item the associated VM template in the vCenter Server inventory is also renamed.
- If you delete the VM template in the vCenter Server inventory, the corresponding VM template library item is also deleted.
- If you delete the VM template library item, the associated VM template in the vCenter Server inventory is also deleted.
VM Templates and OVF Templates in the Content Library
You can use both VM templates and OVF templates to deploy new virtual machines in your vSphere environment. However, the two types of templates have different properties and support different deployment options.
Property | VM Templates in Content Library | OVF Templates in Content Library |
---|---|---|
Datastore | VM templates can be stored on any datastore that you have privileges to.
Note: VM templates cannot be stored in a library that uses NFS or SMB storage.
|
OVF templates can only be stored on the datastore that is associated with the content library. |
Footprint | The default one. | Compressed or Thin. |
Host/Datastore Maintenance Mode | When the host becomes inaccessible, VM templates are automatically migrated to another host. When the datastore becomes inaccessible, you must convert the VM template to a virtual machine and manually migrate the virtual machine to another datastore. |
When either the host or the datastore becomes inaccessible, you must manually migrate the OVF templates to another host or datastore. |
Associated with a Host | Yes. | No. |
Storage DRS | Supported. | Not supported. |
Cross-vendor Compatibility | Not supported. | Supported. |
Software License Agreement | Not supported. | Supported. |
Encryption | Supported. You can create encrypted VM templates. |
Not supported. While OVF templates cannot be encrypted themselves, you can still deploy an encrypted virtual machine from an OVF template. |
Deployment Options | During the deployment of a VM template, hardware customization and guest OS customization are both supported. | During the deployment of an OVF template, only guest OS customization is supported. Hardware customization is not supported. |
The supported operations on a content library template are different depending on the template type. You can edit the settings for both OVF and VM templates. However, you can update, export, and clone a template only if it is an OVF template.