VMware VCLOUD API 1.0 - API

VMware, Inc. 205
Appendix A OVF and the vCloud API
Virtual Disk Files
VirtualdiskfileinformationextractedfromtheReferencessectionoftheOVFpackageisusedtopopulate
theFileselementoftheVAppTemplate.AnOVFpackagecanincludeexactlyoneReferencessection.Itlists
allthefilesrequiredbyalltheVirtualSystemsdefinedinthepackage,includingvirtualdisksand

locale‐specificresourcefiles.VirtualdiskfilesareenumeratedagainintheDiskSectionelementofthe
package,onefileperDiskelement.Diskelementsincludeadditionalinformationaboutthecapacityand
formatofeachdisk.(Diskelementscanalsospecifyemptyvirtualdisk,inwhichcasetheyarenotassociated

withavirtualdiskfile.)
Example A‐1showshowavirtualdiskreferenceappearsinanEnvelope.(Inthisexample,attributesand
otherelementsintheEnvelopehavebeenomittedforclarity.)ThehrefvalueoftheFileelementinthe
Referencessectionspecifiesthefilepathnamerelativetothe
locationoftheOVFdescriptorfileinwhichthe
Envelopeappears.(Inthiscase,thediskfile,SimpleVM-disk1.vmdk,isinthesamefolderastheOVF
descriptor.)TheDiskelementisthenassociatedwithavirtualmachine,asaHostResourceofa
VirtualSystem,referencedbyitsovf:diskIdattributevalue.
Example A-1. Virtual Disks in an OVF Envelope
<Envelope ...
...
<References>
<File ovf:href="SimpleVM-disk1.vmdk" ovf:id="file1" ovf:size="68096"/>
</References>
...
<DiskSection>
<Info>Virtual disk information</Info>
<Disk ovf:capacity="8589934593" ovf:capacityAllocationUnits="byte * 2^20"
ovf:diskId="vmdisk1" ovf:fileRef="file1"
ovf:format="http://www.vmware.com/interfaces/specifications/vmdk.html#str
eamOptimized"/>
</DiskSection>
...
<VirtualHardwareSection>
<VirtualSystem>
...
<Item>
...
<rasd:ElementName>Hard Disk 1</rasd:ElementName>
<rasd:HostResource>ovf:/disk/vmdisk1</rasd:HostResource>
...
</Item>
...
</VirtualHardwareSection>
</VirtualSystem>
</Envelope>
Networks
TheNetworkSectionelementofanOVFEnvelopelistsallthelogicalnetworksrequiredbythepackage.Each
networkisdefinedinthissectionbyanameandcanhaveanoptionaldescription.Logicalnetworknamesare
usedwhenspecifyingconnectiondetailsforavirtualNIC.
TheOVFisextensible,andthe
vCloudAPIhasimplementedextensionsthatenableamorecomprehensive
specificationofnetworkfeatures,suchasfirewallandNATrules,thanwhatiscurrentlysupportedbytheOVF
standard.See“NetworkConfig”onpage 165.
Example A‐2illustratesasubsetofEnvelopeelementsthatspecifyvAppnetworkingconfiguration.
 TheOVFNetworkSectionelementspecifiesthenameofthenetwork
 ThevCloudAPINetworkConfigSectiondefinesvariousnetworkfeaturessuchasDHCPandfirewall
services.