LazyWinAdmin: How to Deploy an OVF Template from a Remote Web Server

2013/03/26

How to Deploy an OVF Template from a Remote Web Server

In the following post I am going to explain how to deploy an OVF Template from an URL.

The VMware vSphere Client allows you to deploy and export virtual machines, virtual appliances, and vApps stored in Open Virtual Machine Format (OVF).

An appliance is a pre-configured virtual machine that typically includes a preinstalled guest operating system and other software.

Methods to deploy an OVF Template

Using vSphere Client you have a couple of methods available to you :

Remote web server (URL)
Local Disk, USB keychain drives or CD/DVD drives
Shared network drives
OVFTool (Command-line utility from VMware that allows you to import and export OVF packages to and from a wide variety of VMware platform products.)

In most cases, Administrators would probably browse their Local Disks or Network Shares.
However, In my case I want to deploy a template using the local datastore of my ESXi host, using an URL.

Using a Remote web server (URL) to deploy an OVF Template
Typically, in the following example I will use the built-in Web Server of my VMware ESXi host.

Open vSphere Client and Click "File - Deploy OVF Template"

Now we need to get the URL link to the OVF Template. Navigate to http://<Host IP> and select Browse datastores in the host's inventory

Enter your credential (Example: root)

Navigate into the datastore where your template is located. In my case, the template is on the local disk of my ESXi Host.

Right click on this file and Copy the Shortcut (URL link)

Go back to vSphere Client, Deploy OVF Template Wizard should be opened, Paste the URL in "Deploy from a file or URL" field, then click Next.