Managed Object - OvfManager

Property of: ServiceContent
See also: Datastore, HostSystem, ManagedEntity, OvfCreateDescriptorParams, OvfCreateDescriptorResult, OvfCreateImportSpecParams, OvfCreateImportSpecResult, OvfOptionInfo, OvfParseDescriptorParams, OvfParseDescriptorResult, OvfValidateHostParams, OvfValidateHostResult, ResourcePool
Since: vSphere API 4.0

Managed Object Description

Service interface to parse and generate OVF descriptors.

The purpose of this interface is to make it easier for callers to import VMs and vApps from OVF packages and to export VI packages to OVF. In the following description, the term "client" is used to mean any caller of the interface.

This interface only converts between OVF and VI types. To actually import and export entities, use ResourcePool.importVApp, VirtualMachine.exportVm and VirtualApp.exportVApp.

Import

For the import scenario, the typical sequence of events is as follows:

The client calls parseDescriptor to obtain information about the OVF descriptor. This typically includes information (such as a list of networks) that must be mapped to VI infrastructure entities.

The OVF descriptor is validated against the OVF Specification, and any errors or warnings are returned as part of the ParseResult. For example, the parser might encounter a section marked required that it does not understand, or the XML descriptor might be malformed.

The client decides on network mappings, datastore, properties etc. It then calls createImportSpec to obtain the parameters needed to call ResourcePool.importVApp.

If any warnings are present, the client will review these and decide whether to proceed or not. If errors are present, the ImportSpec will be missing, so the client is forced to give up or fix the problems and then try again.

The client now calls ResourcePool.importVApp, passing the ImportSpec as a parameter. This will create the virtual machines and VirtualApp objects in VI and return locations to which the files of the entity can be uploaded. It also returns a lease that controls the duration of the lock taken on the newly created inventory objects. When all files have been uploaded, the client must release this lease.

Export

Creating the OVF descriptor is the last part of exporting an entity to OVF. At this point, the client has already downloaded all files for the entity, optionally compressing and/or chunking them (however, the client may do a "dry run" of creating the descriptor before downloading the files. See OvfManager.createDescriptor).

In addition to the entity reference itself, information about the choices made on these files is passed to createDescriptor as a list of OvfFile instances.

The client must inspect and act upon warnings and errors as previously described.

No matter if the export succeeds or fails, the client is responsible for releasing the shared state lock taken on the entity (by VirtualMaching.exportVm or VirtualApp.exportVApp) during the export.

Error handling

All result types contain warning and error lists. Warnings do not cause processing to fail, but the caller (typically, the user of a GUI client) may choose to reject the result based on the warnings issued.

Errors cause processing to abort by definition.

Properties

Name	Type	Description
ovfExportOption* P	OvfOptionInfo[]	Returns an array of OvfOptionInfo object that specifies what options the server support for exporting an OVF descriptor. *Since* vSphere API 5.1
ovfImportOption* P	OvfOptionInfo[]	Returns an array of OvfOptionInfo object that specifies what options the server support for modifing/relaxing the OVF import process. *Since* vSphere API 5.1

Name

Type

Description

ovfExportOption* P

OvfOptionInfo[]

Returns an array of OvfOptionInfo object that specifies what options the server support for exporting an OVF descriptor.

Since vSphere API 5.1

ovfImportOption* P

OvfOptionInfo[]

Returns an array of OvfOptionInfo object that specifies what options the server support for modifing/relaxing the OVF import process.

Since vSphere API 5.1

*May not be presentP Required privilege: System.View

Methods

Methods defined in this Managed Object
CreateDescriptor, CreateImportSpec, ParseDescriptor, ValidateHost

CreateDescriptor

Create an OVF descriptor for the specified ManagedEntity, which may be a VirtualMachine or a VirtualApp.

To create the complete OVF descriptor, the client must already have downloaded the files that are part of the entity, because information about these files (compression, chunking, filename etc.) is part of the descriptor.

However, these downloads can be quite time-consuming, so if the descriptor for some reason cannot be generated, the client will want to know this before downloading the files.

For this reason, the client may do an initial "dry run" with the ovfFiles parameter unset. Default filenames will then be used in the descriptor, and the client can examine any warnings and/or errors before downloading the files.

After the final call to this method, client must release the lock on the entity given to it by VirtualMachine.exportVm or VirtualApp.exportVApp.

Required Privileges: System.View

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
_this	ManagedObjectReference	A reference to the OvfManager used to make the method call.
obj P	ManagedObjectReference to a ManagedEntity	The entity to export. Supported types are VirtualMachine and VirtualApp.
cdp	OvfCreateDescriptorParams	Parameters to the method, bundled in an instance of CreateDescriptorParams.

P Required privilege: VApp.Export

Return Value

Type	Description
OvfCreateDescriptorResult	An instance of CreateDescriptorResult

Faults

Type	Description
ConcurrentAccess	Thrown if a concurrency issue prevents the operation from succeeding.
FileFault	Thrown if there is a generic file error
InvalidState	Thrown if the operation failed due to the current state of the system.
RuntimeFault	Thrown if any type of runtime fault is thrown that is not covered by the other faults; for example, a communication error.
TaskInProgress	Thrown if a required managed entity is busy.
VmConfigFault	Thrown if a configuration issue prevents the operation from succeeding. Typically, a more specific subclass is thrown.

Events

Type
None

Show WSDL type definition

         <element xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:vim25="urn:vim25" name="CreateDescriptor" type="vim25:CreateDescriptorRequestType"/>
         <element xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:vim25="urn:vim25" name="CreateDescriptorResponse">
            <complexType>
               <sequence>
                  <element name="returnval" type="vim25:OvfCreateDescriptorResult"/>
               </sequence>
            </complexType>
         </element>

CreateImportSpec

Validate the OVF descriptor against the hardware supported by the host system. If the validation succeeds, return a result containing:

An ImportSpec to use when importing the entity.
A list of items to upload (for example disk backing files, ISO images etc.)

Required Privileges: System.View

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
_this	ManagedObjectReference	A reference to the OvfManager used to make the method call.
ovfDescriptor	xsd:string	The OVF descriptor of the entity.
resourcePool P	ManagedObjectReference to a ResourcePool	The resource pool to import the entity to. May be a vApp.
datastore P	ManagedObjectReference to a Datastore	The datastore on which to create the inventory objects of the entity, for example "storage1". The privilege Datastore.AllocateSpace is required on the datastore.
cisp	OvfCreateImportSpecParams	Additional parameters to the method, bundled in an instance of CreateImportSpecParams.

PRequired privilege - see tooltip for details

Return Value

Type	Description
OvfCreateImportSpecResult

Faults

Type	Description
ConcurrentAccess	Thrown if a concurrency issue prevents the operation from succeeding.
FileFault	Thrown if there is a generic file error
InvalidDatastore
InvalidState	Thrown if the operation failed due to the current state of the system.
RuntimeFault	Thrown if any type of runtime fault is thrown that is not covered by the other faults; for example, a communication error.
TaskInProgress	Thrown if a required managed entity is busy.
VmConfigFault	Thrown if a configuration issue prevents the operation from succeeding. Typically, a more specific subclass is thrown.

Events

Type
None

Show WSDL type definition

         <element xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:vim25="urn:vim25" name="CreateImportSpec" type="vim25:CreateImportSpecRequestType"/>
         <element xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:vim25="urn:vim25" name="CreateImportSpecResponse">
            <complexType>
               <sequence>
                  <element name="returnval" type="vim25:OvfCreateImportSpecResult"/>
               </sequence>
            </complexType>
         </element>

ParseDescriptor

Parse the OVF descriptor and return as much information about it as possible without knowing the host on which it will be imported.

Typically, this method is called once without a deploymentOption parameter to obtain the values for the default deployment option. Part of the result is the list of possible deployment options. To obtain the values for a particular deployment option, call this method again, specifying that option.

Required Privileges: System.View

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
_this	ManagedObjectReference	A reference to the OvfManager used to make the method call.
ovfDescriptor	xsd:string	The OVF descriptor to examine.
pdp	OvfParseDescriptorParams	Additional parameters for parseDescriptor, wrapped in an instance of ParseDescriptorParams.

Return Value

Type	Description
OvfParseDescriptorResult	The information about the descriptor

Faults

Type	Description
ConcurrentAccess	Thrown if a concurrency issue prevents the operation from succeeding.
FileFault	Thrown if there is a generic file error
InvalidState	Thrown if the operation failed due to the current state of the system.
RuntimeFault	Thrown if any type of runtime fault is thrown that is not covered by the other faults; for example, a communication error.
TaskInProgress	Thrown if a required managed entity is busy.
VmConfigFault	Thrown if a configuration issue prevents the operation from succeeding. Typically, a more specific subclass is thrown.

Events

Type
None

Show WSDL type definition

         <element xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:vim25="urn:vim25" name="ParseDescriptor" type="vim25:ParseDescriptorRequestType"/>
         <element xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:vim25="urn:vim25" name="ParseDescriptorResponse">
            <complexType>
               <sequence>
                  <element name="returnval" type="vim25:OvfParseDescriptorResult"/>
               </sequence>
            </complexType>
         </element>

ValidateHost

Validate that the given OVF can be imported on the host.

More specifically, this means whether or not the host supports the virtual hardware required by the OVF descriptor.

Required Privileges: System.View

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
_this	ManagedObjectReference	A reference to the OvfManager used to make the method call.
ovfDescriptor	xsd:string	The OVF descriptor to examine.
host	ManagedObjectReference to a HostSystem	The host to validate against.
vhp	OvfValidateHostParams	Additional parameters for validateHost, wrapped in a ValidateHostParams instance.

Return Value

Type	Description
OvfValidateHostResult	A ValidateResult instance containing any warnings and/or errors from the validation.

Faults

Type	Description
ConcurrentAccess	Thrown if a concurrency issue prevents the operation from succeeding.
FileFault	Thrown if there is a generic file error
InvalidState	Thrown if the operation failed due to the current state of the system.
RuntimeFault	Thrown if any type of runtime fault is thrown that is not covered by the other faults; for example, a communication error.
TaskInProgress	Thrown if a required managed entity is busy.

Events

Type
None

Show WSDL type definition

         <element xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:vim25="urn:vim25" name="ValidateHost" type="vim25:ValidateHostRequestType"/>
         <element xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:vim25="urn:vim25" name="ValidateHostResponse">
            <complexType>
               <sequence>
                  <element name="returnval" type="vim25:OvfValidateHostResult"/>
               </sequence>
            </complexType>
         </element>