As discussed in earlier chapters, you can use the OVF Tool to package virtual machines as vApps (ready-to-use virtual machine groups with cooperating systems and applications). The package formats supported by the OVF Tool can be read and/or imported by other VMware and third-party software.
The table below describes each of the supported formats:
| Package Type | Full Name | Usage |
|---|---|---|
| OVF (.ovf) | Open Virtualization Format | National ANSI standard for packaging software for virtual machines, originally created by an industry consortium, the Distributed Management Task Force (DTMF). An OVF package includes: a descriptor file, optional manifest and certificate files, optional disk images, and optional resource files (such as ISOs). The disk image files can be in VMware’s .vmdk disk image format or any other supported disk image format. OVF packages can be used by the software of any hypervisor or processor architecture that supports this format. |
| OVA (.ova) | Open Virtual Appliance | A TAR archive that contains an OVF package. |
| VMX (.vmx) | Virtual Machine Configuration File | When you create a new virtual machine, this file is created to store information about the operating system, disk sizes, networking, and virtual hardware. Files in this format and in .vmdk format are sometimes referred to together as VMware runtime format. |
| VMDK (.vmdk) | Virtual Machine Disk | Files with this extension may contain disk characteristics (,vmdk), contents (-flat.vmdk), or snapshot files (-delta.vmdk). These files are called out on the OVF Tool command line, but may exist within the package. |
| VI (vi://) | VMware Infrastructure | This is an older term that originated with ESX 3, but is still seen in the command line syntax for the OVF Tool. As an OVF command line option, ‘vi//’ is used before the credentials and path to a server. |
| vCloud | vCloud Director format | The vCloud Director REST API makes basic transfer between clouds possible using OVF packages, which preserve application properties, networking configuration and other settings. |
| ISO (.iso) | Optical Image File | An ISO archive is a CD/DVD image. Creating a package as an ISO image allows you to install a virtual appliance using a CD ROM drive. This type of archive is called an ISO because it was created by the International Standards Organization’s 9660 standard. |
| FLP (.flp) | Floppy Disk Image File | Use this format if you need to transfer data from a floppy drive or to the virtual machine floppy drive. See the VMware Knowledge Base for FLP information. |
| vApprun | vApprun | This format allows you to run a virtual appliance on VMware Fusion or Workstation. You can use OVF Tool to convert vApps to the vApprun format, and you can use VMware Workstation to convert vApps to OVF format. |
Use the OVF Tool with the Target Type option to specify the target out as OVF, OVA, VMX, VI, vCloud, ISO, FLP, vApprun.
In this following example, the target type is set to the ‘vmx’ or VMware runtime format (.vmx and .vmdk files)
> ovftool -tt=vmx /ovfs/my_vapp.ovf /vms/
The resulting files are: /vms/my_vapp/my_vapp.vmx and /vms/my_vapp/my_vapp.vmdk, the typical VMware runtime format for a virtual machine folder.
