Deploy a Virtual Machine from an OVF Template in a Content Library

In content libraries, you can use the OVF template, which is either the template of a virtual machine or a vApp, to deploy a virtual machine to a host or a cluster in your vSphere inventory.

Prerequisites

Verify that you have the following privileges:

Virtual machine.Inventory.Create from existing
Virtual machine.Configuration.Add new disk
Virtual machine.Provisioning.Deploy template
Virtual machine.Assign virtual machine to resource pool
vApp.Import
vApp.Create

Procedure

Navigate to Menu > Content Libraries.
Select a content library and click the Templates tab.
Right-click an OVF template and select New VM from This Template.
The New Virtual Machine from Content Library wizard opens.
On the Select a name and folder page, enter a name, select a location for the virtual machine, and select additional customization options for the new virtual machine.
1. To customize the guest operating system of the virtual machine, select the Customize the operating system check box.
2. To change the hardware settings of the virtual machine, select the Customize this virtual machine's hardware check box.
A new Customize hardware page appears if you want to customize the virtual machine's hardware.
Click Next.
On the Select a compute resource page, select a host, a cluster, a resource pool, or a vApp where to run the deployed template, and click Next.

Important:
If the template that you deploy has an NVDIMM device and virtual PMem hard disks, the destination host or cluster must have available PMem resource. Otherwise, you cannot proceed with the task.

If the template that you deploy does not have an NVDIMM device, but it has virtual PMem hard disks, the destination host or cluster must have available PMem resource. Otherwise, all the hard disks of the virtual machine will use the storage policy and datastore selected for the configuration files of the source template.
On the Review details page, verify the template details and click Next.

On the Select storage page, select the datastore or datastore cluster in which to store the virtual machine configuration files and all of the virtual disks. Click Next.

Option	Description
Deploy a virtual machine from a template that has vPMem hard disks	Choose the type of storage for the template by selecting the Standard, the PMem, or the Hybrid radio button. If you select the Standard mode, all virtual disks will be stored on a standard datastore. If you select the PMem mode, all virtual disks will be stored on the host-local PMem datastore. Configuration files cannot be stored on a PMem datastore and you must additionally select a regular datastore for the configuration files of the virtual machine. If you select the Hybrid mode, all PMem virtual disks will remain stored on a PMem datastore. Non-PMem disks are affected by your choice of a VM storage policy and datastore or datastore cluster. For more information about persistent memory and PMem storage, see the vSphere Resource Management guide. (Optional) From the VM Storage Policy drop-down menu, select a virtual machine storage policy or leave the default one. Select a datastore or a datastore cluster. Select the Disable Storage DRS for this virtual machine check box if you do not want to use storage DRS with the virtual machine. (Optional) Turn on the Configure per disk option to select a separate datastore or a datastore cluster for the template configuration file and for each virtual disk. Note: You can use the Configure per disk option to convert a PMem hard disk to a regular one, but that change might cause performance problems. You can also convert a standard hard disk to a PMem hard disk.
Deploy a virtual machine from a template that does not have vPMem hard disks	Select the disk format for the virtual machine virtual disks. Same format as source uses the same disk format as the source virtual machine. The Thick Provision Lazy Zeroed format creates a virtual disk in a default thick format. Space required for the virtual disk is allocated when the virtual disk is created. Data remaining on the physical device is not erased during creation, but is zeroed out later, on demand, on first write from the virtual machine. Thick Provision Eager Zeroed is a type of thick virtual disk that supports clustering features such as Fault tolerance. Space required for the virtual disk is allocated at creation time. In contrast to the flat format, the data remaining on the physical device is zeroed out when the virtual disk is created. It might take much longer to create disks in this format than to create other types of disks. The Thin Provision format saves storage space. 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. (Optional) Select a VM storage policy or leave the default one. Select a datastore or a datastore cluster. (Optional) Turn on the Configure per disk option to select a separate datastore or a datastore cluster for the template configuration file and for each virtual disk. Note: You can use the Configure per disk option to convert a PMem hard disk to a regular one, but that change might cause performance problems. You can also convert a standard hard disk to a PMem hard disk.

Option

Description

Deploy a virtual machine from a template that has vPMem hard disks

Choose the type of storage for the template by selecting the Standard, the PMem, or the Hybrid radio button.
If you select the Standard mode, all virtual disks will be stored on a standard datastore.

If you select the PMem mode, all virtual disks will be stored on the host-local PMem datastore. Configuration files cannot be stored on a PMem datastore and you must additionally select a regular datastore for the configuration files of the virtual machine.

If you select the Hybrid mode, all PMem virtual disks will remain stored on a PMem datastore. Non-PMem disks are affected by your choice of a VM storage policy and datastore or datastore cluster.

For more information about persistent memory and PMem storage, see the vSphere Resource Management guide.
(Optional) From the VM Storage Policy drop-down menu, select a virtual machine storage policy or leave the default one.
Select a datastore or a datastore cluster.
Select the Disable Storage DRS for this virtual machine check box if you do not want to use storage DRS with the virtual machine.
(Optional) Turn on the Configure per disk option to select a separate datastore or a datastore cluster for the template configuration file and for each virtual disk.
Note: You can use the Configure per disk option to convert a PMem hard disk to a regular one, but that change might cause performance problems. You can also convert a standard hard disk to a PMem hard disk.

Deploy a virtual machine from a template that does not have vPMem hard disks

Select the disk format for the virtual machine virtual disks.
Same format as source uses the same disk format as the source virtual machine.

The Thick Provision Lazy Zeroed format creates a virtual disk in a default thick format. Space required for the virtual disk is allocated when the virtual disk is created. Data remaining on the physical device is not erased during creation, but is zeroed out later, on demand, on first write from the virtual machine.

Thick Provision Eager Zeroed is a type of thick virtual disk that supports clustering features such as Fault tolerance. Space required for the virtual disk is allocated at creation time. In contrast to the flat format, the data remaining on the physical device is zeroed out when the virtual disk is created. It might take much longer to create disks in this format than to create other types of disks.

The Thin Provision format saves storage space. 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.
(Optional) Select a VM storage policy or leave the default one.
Select a datastore or a datastore cluster.
(Optional) Turn on the Configure per disk option to select a separate datastore or a datastore cluster for the template configuration file and for each virtual disk.
Note: You can use the Configure per disk option to convert a PMem hard disk to a regular one, but that change might cause performance problems. You can also convert a standard hard disk to a PMem hard disk.

Note: If you want to use the API calls to deploy an OVF template that contains vPMem hard disks and that has been exported from a content library, consult https://kb.vmware.com/kb/52370.

On the Select networks page, select a network for each network adapter in the template and click Next.
On the Customize template page, change the template settings and click Next.
On the Customize hardware page, configure the virtual machine's hardware options and click Next.

Note: You cannot change the existing virtual hardware disks, CD/DVD drives settings, and you cannot add new virtual disks or CD/DVD drives. You can change these settings after you deploy the virtual machine.
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.