Exporting a VM to an OVF from VMware Workstation for Import into the Lumen Cloud

Updated by Jake Malmad on Oct 26, 2021
Article Code: kb/1393

Description

OVF (Open Virtualization Format) is an open standard for packaging and distributing virtual machines or virtual appliances. The OVF standard is not proprietary, and is cross-platform compatible regardless of hypervisor (VMware, Hyper-V, Xen). This article details the steps associated with exporting a virtual machine from VMware Workstation for import into the Lumen Cloud.

Steps

  1. Launch VMware Workstation. In the “Library” pane, select the machine you wish to export.

  2. Select “File” -> “Export to OVF.” A dialog box will appear asking to specify the destination directory in which the OVF will be saved. Browse to the desired location and click “Save.”

  3. A progress bar will be displayed showing the task completion.

  4. To reduce file transfer time, and ensure file integrity, it is recommended to use an archival tool such as the open source 7zip to compress the OVF folder. Once the archive is created, calculate a checksum to ensure the integrity of your files. This can be done in most archival programs. In 7zip, simply highlight the archive, go to “File,” and select “Calculate Checksum.” The checksum value can be provided to the Lumen Cloud NOC to ensure the integrity of the uploaded archive.

  5. Upload the archive to the provided FTP location for import.

    Additionally, the same procedure can be performed with the OVF Tool. Once the OVF tool is downloaded, launch a command prompt or terminal window in the appropriate location. While the OVF tool can perform advanced configuration commands, the simplest operation is:

     ovftool <source> <destination>