I downloaded centos 5.2 as a zip7 file that expanded into five files - vmdk, xf,x,sd and an nvram file. I downloaded vma and it became two fiels as well: vMA-ovf-4.0.0-161993-0.vmdk and vMA-ovf-4.0.0-161993.ovf. The ovf file is only 13kbs? I have no idea how to load the vmdk and associated files? I
Files that I deploy by URL like you suggest load fine, However, there seem to be very few of these ovf templates available? A search on google produces almost none. I can find not a single site that is listing ovf templates the way we sould see for say drupal themes.
When I search the vmware appliance site for ovfs I get about seven finds? Most appliances in the market place seem to be written in a format other than ovf for earlier versions of esx?
1) Please direct me to a webpage with a significant number of ovf templates to chosse from that have urls listed for deployment. I could find very few if any besides the Zimbra one you listed.
2) How do I add an ip address to the Zimba machine. This cannot be a great mystery. HOwever, the KB only had 25 articles in response to a search " ip" and none reference add one to a virtual machine. I fear I am over looking the obvious as this information does not seem to be available. I did see some stuff about IpCop but find it hard to believe we have to have a whole applicane just to add an ip to a machine. I did this easlily in one file on OpenVz and it took care of all the nework issue behind the scenes.
I looked through the 4 pdfs listed as documentation for vsphere4 and they seem to revolve around Virtual Center? Searching the vmware site in general is very confusing as there are so many products all having vmware in the name. For instance a lot of information seems to relate to Vi3 and esx and not to Vsphere4 and esxi? I am having trouble finding specific directions for for vsphere.
I am very new to vmware but it looks to me like the console was removed in vsphere and practical documentation to compensate is scarce or buried in the confusion of multiple products, releases, and poor product naming conventions. Searches often produce documents that are relevant to other products even when serached for in a specific community. So many things I have read are about esx with console and don't seem to apply to esxi 4.