Importing virtual machine OVF files as a VM template

Prerequisite

You have obtained the OVF files to be imported, which contains the .ovf file and the .vmdk file.

Procedure

1. In the upper right corner of the VM template list in the content library, click Add VM template > Import VM template to open the Import VM template dialog box.

2. In the opened Import VM template dialog box, enter the configuration information.

   • Select file

     Parameter	Description
     Cluster	A cluster that stores the VM template.
     Select OVF file	Select a file with the .ovf suffix. You can only select one file.
     Select VMDK file	Select one or more files with the .vmdk suffix. Different .ovf files require different number of .vmdk files. Please select the required files according to the prompt.

   • Basic information

     Parameter	Description
     VM template name	The name of the VM template cannot be the same as the name of any existing VM template in the content library.
     Description (optional)	The description is used to record the additional information about the template.

   • Compute resource

     Parameter	Description
     vCPU	The system fills in the vCPU value in the imported file automatically, and you can also modify it manually. A maximum of 240 vCPUs are supported. Click Advanced attribute to configure the sockets.
     Memory	The system fills in the memory value in the imported file automatically. You can also select 8 GiB, 16 GiB, or customize the memory, but the value must be a positive integer multiple of 0.5 and cannot exceed the maximum available memory suggested on the page.

   • Disk

     Parameter	Description
     Disk	The system fills in the information about the virtual volumes in the imported files automatically, which cannot be deleted. You can reset their names, buses, and storage policies. The default storage policy is the default storage policy of the cluster to which the template belongs.
     CD-ROM	The system fills in the information about the CD-ROMs in the imported files automatically, and you can add, delete, enable, or disable them as needed. Disabled CD-ROM devices will not be displayed in the virtual machine. Loading ISO images is not supported.

   • Virtual NIC

     VIRTIO and E1000 virtual NICs are supported. The system fills in the information about the NICs in the imported files automatically. You can add new NICs and delete the existing ones.

     Parameter	Description
     Enabled or Disabled	Enable or disable the virtual NIC.
     Mode	The NIC mode can be set to VIRTIO or E1000.
     Mirror mode	When mirror mode is enabled, the NIC can only be used to receive mirrored traffic and listen to all traffic sent to the host from the virtual distributed switch to which the NIC is connected, and cannot be used for regular purposes.

   • Other configurations

     Parameter	Description
     High availability	After enabling HA, if a virtual machine encounters availability issues, it will be automatically rebuilt on a healthy host.
     Firmware	The system fills in the firmware type recorded in the imported files automatically, which cannot be modified.

3. Click Confirm.

   You can view the import status of the VM template in the task center. After completing the import, you can view the newly imported template in the VM template list.