You can use an OVF template from a content library to deploy a virtual machine to a host or a cluster in your vSphere inventory. You can also apply a customization specification to the virtual machine.

Procedure

  1. Select Home > Content Libraries.
  2. Select a content library and click the Templates tab.
  3. Right-click an OVF template and select New VM from This Template.
    The New Virtual Machine from Content Library wizard opens.
  4. On the Select name and location page, enter a name and select a location for the virtual machine.
  5. (Optional) To apply a customization specification to your virtual machine, select the Customize the operating system check-box and click Next.
  6. On the Customize Guest OS page, select a customization specification or create a new one, and click Next.
  7. On the Select a resource page, select a host, a cluster, a resource pool, or a vApp where to run the deployed template, and click Next.
  8. On the Review details page, verify the template details and click Next.
  9. On the Select storage page, configure the datastore.
    1. Select the format for the virtual machine's disks.
      Option Action
      Same format as source Use the same format as the source virtual machine.
      Thick Provision Lazy Zeroed Create a virtual disk in a default thick format. Space required for the virtual disk is allocated during creation. Any data remaining on the physical device is not erased during creation, but is zeroed out on demand at a later time on first write from the virtual machine.
      Thick Provision Eager Zeroed Create a thick disk that supports clustering features such as Fault Tolerance. Space required for the virtual disk is allocated at creation time. In contrast to the thick provision lazy zeroed format, the data remaining on the physical device is zeroed out during creation. It might take longer to create disks in this format than to create other types of disks.
      Thin Provision Use the thin provisioned format. At first, a thin provisioned disk uses only as much datastore space as the disk initially needs. If the thin disk needs more space later, it can grow to the maximum capacity allocated to it.
    2. (Optional) Select a storage policy from the VM Storage Policy drop-down menu.
      Storage policies specify storage requirements for applications that run on the virtual machine.
    3. Select the datastore location where you want to store the virtual machine files.
      Your selection affects the storage creation process.
      Option Action
      Store all virtual machine files in the same location on a datastore.
      1. (Optional) Apply a virtual machine storage policy for the virtual machine home files and the virtual disks from the VM storage policy drop-down menu.

        The list shows which datastores are compatible and which are incompatible with the selected virtual machine storage policy.

      2. Select a datastore and click Next.
      Store all virtual machine files in the same datastore cluster.
      1. (Optional) Apply a virtual machine storage policy for the virtual machine home files and the virtual disks from the VM storage policy drop-down menu.

        The list shows which datastores are compatible and which are incompatible with the selected virtual machine storage profile.

      2. Select a datastore cluster.
      3. (Optional) If you do not want to use Storage DRS with this virtual machine, select Disable Storage DRS for this virtual machine and select a datastore within the datastore cluster.
      4. Click Next.
      Store virtual machine configuration files and disks in separate locations.
      1. Click Advanced.
      2. For the virtual machine configuration file and for each virtual disk, click Browse and select a datastore or datastore cluster.
      3. Apply a virtual machine storage policy from the VM storage profile drop-down menu.

        The list shows which datastores are compatible and which are incompatible with the selected virtual machine storage policy.

      4. (Optional) If you selected a datastore cluster and do not want to use Storage DRS with this virtual machine, select Disable Storage DRS for this virtual machine and select a datastore within the datastore cluster.
      5. Click Next.
      Store all virtual machine files in the same non-volatile memory disk
      1. (Optional) Apply a virtual machine storage policy for the virtual machine home files and the virtual disks from the VM storage policy drop-down menu.
      2. Select a non-volatile memory disk and click Next.
  10. On the Select networks page, select a network for each network adapter in the template and click Next.
  11. On the Ready to complete page, review the page and click Finish.

Results

A new task for creating the virtual machine appears in the Recent Tasks pane. After the task is complete, the new virtual machine is created on the selected resource.