Kais Belgaied wrote: > - Scope of this case: > Typically, you don't get a naked .ovf file. You get an OVF package, > which is a tar ball of the content (actual vmdk's of a disk image + > possible .iso if needed for startup, optional signing cert ...) > along with the .ovf that describes the metatdata for configuring > the VM. The package is what VWare's OVF tool exports and imports. It > seems to me that stopping at importing and producing only the .ovf > falls short of delivering a complete answer and leaves the user on > his/her own to go assemble the needed parts.
The open source virt-convert import does not yet support the TAR (ova) format. It does support an input of a directory that contains the OVF package files or an input of the ovf file directly. If specifying the ovf file directly the ovf file will describe the other files required by the OVF package. > > - Interoperability: > OVF defines 3 levels of conformance, depending on the attributes and > optional extensions implemented. > What is the conformance level of OVF files produced/exported by > virt-convert? > On the import side, what level is understood by this implementation? virt-convert does not yet support export of an OVF package. virt-convert understands the basic ovf core metadata sections in use by the industry at this time. It currently complies with import of Conformance Level 1 ovf packages. > > - Evolution > Any tying to a particular version of the format? No. If the parser can parse the ovf xml file without failure then the import will be attempted. If an unknown required section is encountered during the parsing of the ovf xml file, then virt-convert will fail. Thanks, Susan > > Kais. > > On 10/09/09 12:57, Sebastien Roy wrote: >> The Open Virtualization Format (OVF) is the latest industry wide >> format used to move guest VMs between different v12n platforms. >> >> In following the upstream virt-install project, virt-convert has been >> enhanced to auto-detect the OVF format as an input type or to have it >> explicitly set on use as follows: >> >> usage: virt-convert -i ovf inputdir|input.vmx|input.ovf >> [outputdir|output.xml] >> >> The manpage has also been updated to reflect the support of the OVF >> format. >> (see the man page in the materials directory). >> >> 3. Input/output formats >> >> virt-convert now supports both .vmx and OVF format input files. >> >> 4. Interface table >> >> An additional input format is listed in the interface table describing >> the still changing OVF specification. >> >> virt-convert command line Uncommitted >> virt-convert output Not-an-interface >> virt-instance output format Uncommitted >> VMX input format Volatile >> OVF input format Volatile >> >> 5. References >> >> PSARC/2008/579 virt-convert >> >> >> >> >
