Deploy ovf/ova with vRO Script or vSphere API

[seangadson]

Hello All,

I was wondering is there a way to do automatic deployments (imports) of ovf/ova files with just JavaScript or with the vsphere API?  I know there is a plugin but I am worried about the ongoing support so I was wondering if anybody leveraged any other solutions

[iiliev]

Hi,

One possible option could be the official VMware OVF Tool - https://code.vmware.com/web/tool/4.3.0/ovf

[seangadson]

Can you call this tool from vRO?

[iiliev · Accepted solution]

Yes, assuming it is copied on the file system of vRO appliance in a directory the vRO scripting has execution permissions for, you should be able to run it using Command scripting class (check vRO API Explorer for documentation about this scripting class).

[seangadson]

So just so I am understanding what you are saying could be a good solution is to use the ovftool, download the linux version, install it in a place where vRO has execution permissions for and then use the command scripting class? 

[iiliev]

Yes, something like that.

An alternative approach to using the ovftool is to try to deploy OVF from vCenter Content Library, utilizing vRO vAPI plug-in. Check for example the following thread https://communities.vmware.com/thread/558854 which could be a good starting point. But this is likely more complex approach and will require more code than the simple execution of ovftool.

[seangadson]

Thanks a lot this will give me two options as I work with the customer.  I was able to install the ovftool though and I am able to run commands so I am going to lead towards that way

[seangadson]

Hey,

I have a question I am getting a 255 result code when I try and run the ovftool commands:

Code:

// Prepare Command line and parameters to execute:

cmd = "ovftool --help";

System.log("executing cmd: " + cmd);

// Create and execute the command:

var command = new Command(cmd);

command.execute(true);

// Display command results and output

var scriptResult = command.result;

System.log("Script Result: " + scriptResult);

var scriptOutput = command.output;

System.log("Script Output: " + scriptOutput)

Results:

[2019-10-25 11:15:32.999] [I] executing cmd: ovftool --help

[2019-10-25 11:15:33.212] [I] Script Result: 255

[2019-10-25 11:15:33.213] [I] Script Output:

[iiliev]

Could you check if it works if the full path to ovftool is provided, that is, the command string to be something like

cmd = "/full/path/to/ovftool --help";

Update: I tried your code on one of my machines (vRO 7.6 + ovftool 4.2.0), and it seems to work - I got status code 0 and some text describing the usage of the tool.

[seangadson]

Hello,

yea I was able to get it to work turned out there was some issue with the vRO server and I was able to fix that