Creating and Using the VM ID

When the parameters for one of the command line options includes the VM ID, this ID refers to an attribute in the OVF descriptor file. Specifically, it is the ID attribute of the VirtualSystem element that will appear in the OVF file that describes the VM you want to create or customize. If you are creating a VM, you need to specify the ID in the descriptor file. For example, the ID of the VM specified in the descriptor fragment below is vm1.

<ovf:VirtualSystem ovf:id="vm1">
   <ovf:Info>A virtual machine</ovf:Info>
   <ovf:Name>WinServer2012</ovf:Name>
   <ovf:OperatingSystemSection ovf:id="74" vmw:osType="windows8Server64Guest">
      <ovf:Info>Specifies the operating system installed</ovf:Info>
      <ovf:Description>Microsoft Windows Server 2012 (64-bit)</ovf:Description>
   </ovf:OperatingSystemSection>
   ...

For example, you must use the VM ID when specifying the size of memory for a VM, as in this option: --memorySize:vm1=1024

If you are customizing an existing VM, look at the descriptor file to get the VM ID. You can also have the ovftool read an OVF file and extract the IDs before importing or deploying it.

> ovftool --verifyOnly --machineOutput <src ovf>