VMware’s OVFtool is a command line tool that allows you to convert VMware Virtual machines to Open virtualization Format (OVF). There have been some update in the latest version that enables the to upload VMs to vCloud Director.it is actually a simple procedure, OVFtool requires a source (VMF or OVF) and a destination (vCloud locator ). The vCloud locator appears like this:
vcloud://username:password@host:port?
org=name_of_org&vapp=name_of_deployed_vapp&catalog=name_of_catalog&vappTemplate=name_of_vapp_template_in_catalog&vdc=name_of_vdc
the vCloud locator resembles a URL with all of the information required to upload your OVF. Many people who use windows tend to use the command prompt, though this will result in an error. There are a few reasons that can be the cause of this error like the special characters OVFtool uses in the URL but to save time just use the poweshell.
$vCloudLocator” = vcloud://tom:[email protected]:443?
org=tom&vappTemplate=MyTemplate&catalog=private”
$sourceFile = “C:tomMyVM.vmx”
$ovftool = “C:Program FilesVMwareVMware OVF Toolovftool.exe”
& $ovftool $sourceFile $vCloudLocator
This is because powershell handles the characters as part of the string, so the string is passed like a parameter to OVFtool.