We will show you how to convert your OVA into an OVF template.
This article explains what an OVA and an OVF template are and how they are related.
OVF template
OVF stands for Open Virtualization Format, a standard developed by the DMTF for packaging and distributing virtual machines. An OVF file is human-readable and written in XML format, containing information about the hardware required or recommended for the virtual machine. For example, it includes the number of processors, memory size, and required disks.
Note: An OVF file alone is not sufficient to create a virtual machine. In addition to the OVF file, a manifest file (.mf) and one or more virtual disks are needed; in the case of VMware, these are VMDK (Virtual Machine Disk) files.
OVA template
OVA stands for Open Virtual Appliance. This is a standard that is also used for packaging and distributing virtual machines. It was also developed by the DMTF. The difference, or rather the extension that the OVA standard brings with it, is that all dependencies for creating a virtual machine are packaged and compressed as an archive.
Note: An OVA file contains all the components required to create a virtual machine in the form of a tar archive. The components include an OVF file (.ovf), a manifest file (.mf) and one or more virtual maschine disks (.vmdk).
How To: Convert an OVA template to an OVF template
If you want to convert an OVA template to an OVF template, for example, to import it into our Xelon HQ, you can do this easily using an archive tool, as mentioned earlier, since an OVA file is a Tar archive.
On Windows (Using 7-Zip)
On Windows, additional software is needed to extract Tar archives. We recommend installing 7-Zip if you don't have any archive software that can unpack Tar archives.
- Download the OVA file to your device.
- Extract the OVA file to a temporary folder.
- Navigate to the downloaded file in the file manager, select it with a left-click, then right-click to open the advanced options "Show more options." You should see the "7-Zip" option with the sub-item "Extract files..." which you can click.
- In the popup window that appears, select the desired destination folder for extraction, then click "OK" to extract the files.
- Voilà, now you have all the files in the temporary folder and can upload them.
On Linux (Terminal & Tar Command)
- Download the OVA file to your device.
*For simplicity, it's recommended to create a temporary folder (named "tempdir" in the example) so that you can easily see all the contents after unpacking.
mkdir tempdir
- Extract the OVA file using the tar command.
tar -xvf <template>.ova -C tempdir
- Voilà, now you have all the files in the temporary folder and can upload them.