Partial Locators

When using OVF Tool, it is often not necessary to specify source and target types as long as certain filename conventions are used. It is possible to the ignore locator type and specify the source and target explicitly using the arguments --sourceType=... and --targetType=.

OVF Tool assumes the locator type based on the following rules:

• If the name starts with vcloud://, OVF Tool assumes vCloud Director type.
• If the name starts with vi://, OVF Tool assumes vSphere type.
• If the name ends with .ovf, OVF Tool assumes OVF type.
• If the name ends with .vmx, OVF Tool assumes VMX type.
• If the name ends with .ova, the OVF tool assumes OVA type.
• If the locator is a file path to a directory that represents a vApprun workspace or an entity in a vApprun workspace, then OVF Tool assumes vApprun type.

Similarly, source and target types can be inferred from folder locators. OVF Tool assumes the type using the following rules:

• If the source locator is a folder, OVF Tool assumes that the source is an OVF package and that the OVF descriptor is called the same as the folder, for example, my-ovf/my-ovf.ovf.
• If the source is an OVF package and the target locator is a directory, such as MyVirtualMachines/, OVF Tool assumes that the target is a VMX locator. The created VMX/VMDK file is put in a directory with the target name, for example, MyVirtualMachines/MyVM/MyVM.vmx.
• If the source is a VMX locator and the target locator is a directory, OVF Tool assumes that the target is an OVF package.
• If the source is a vSphere locator, and the target locator is a directory, OVF Tool assumes that the target is an OVF package.

OVF Tool supports partial vSphere locators when deploying or exporting. For an incomplete locator path, the tool suggests completions at the command line. Partial vSphere Locators at the Command Line shows the command-line dialog when partial locators are used.

Partial vSphere Locators at the Command Line

> ovftool LAMP.ovf vi://localhost/
Opening source: LAMP.ovf
Opening target: vi://user@localhost/
Error: Found wrong kind of object (Folder)
Possible completions are:
  Datacenter/
  Remote Datacenter/
  Secondary Datacenter/

> ovftool LAMP.ovf vi://localhost/Datacenter
Opening source: LAMP.ovf
Opening target: vi://user@localhost/Datacenter
Error: Found wrong kind of object (Datacenter)
Possible completions are:
  vm/
  host/

> ovftool LAMP.ovf vi://localhost/Datacenter/host
Opening source: LAMP.ovf
Opening target: vi://user@localhost/Datacenter/host
Error: Found wrong kind of object (Folder)
Possible completions are:
  host1.foo.com/
  host2.foo.com/

> ovftool LAMP.ovf vi://localhost/Datacenter/vm/host1.foo.com

OVF Tool supports partial vSphere locators when deploying or exporting. For an incomplete locator path, the tool suggests completions at the command line. Partial vCloud DirectorLocators at the Command Line shows the command-line dialog when partial locators are used. First, OVF Tool signals that there is more than one virtual datacenter present, then multiple catalogs, then multiple networks. At each attempt, you must select one of the options that OVF Tool presents.

Partial vCloud DirectorLocators at the Command Line

ovftool LAMP.ovf vcloud://jd:[email protected]:443/?org=myOrg&vapp=test1
Opening OVF source: LAMP.ovf
Warning: No manifest file
Opening vCloud target: vcloud://js:[email protected]:443/
Error: Multiple VDCs found. Possible VDC completions are:
  orgVdc
  orgVdc2
Completed with errors

ovftool LAMP.ovf "vcloud://jd:[email protected]:443/?org=myOrg&vapp=test1&vdc=orgVdc"
Opening OVF source: LAMP.ovf
Warning: No manifest file
Opening vCloud target: vcloud://js:[email protected]:443/
Error: Multiple catalogs found. Possible catalog completions are:
  catalog
  catalog2
Completed with errors

"vcloud://jd:[email protected]:443/?org=myOrg&vapp=test1&vdc=orgVdc&catalog=catalog"
Opening OVF source: LAMP.ovf
Warning: No manifest file
Opening vCloud target: vcloud://js:[email protected]:443/
Error: Multiple networks found on target. Possible completions are:
  extNet2
  extOrgNet
  intNet2
  intnet
Completed with errors

ovftool --net:"VM Network=intnet" LAMP.ovf "vcloud://jd:[email protected]:443/
?org=myOrg&vapp=test1&vdc=orgVdc&catalog=catalog"
Opening OVF source: LAMP.ovf
Warning: No manifest file
Opening vCloud target: vcloud://js:[email protected]:443/
Deploying to vCloud: vcloud://js:[email protected]:443/
Disk Transfer Complete
Completed successfully