VMware Cloud Community
yardie
Contributor
Contributor
‎09-03-2013 01:06 PM

Does vCloud Director support an external (HTTP-based) catalog ?

I have a bunch of OVF/OVAs on an external web server... is there a way to have vCloud Directory 5.x present the external content as a catalog ? In the 5.5 release notes it sounds like it might be possible but digging further it seems it's only between separate vCloud director instances and not just "any old webserver". In my case vCloud is being used for designers where the base VMs/templates are constantly changing... so a "stable catalog" doesn't make sense. The base vms/templates are already being output onto a common web server, so having to upload them to a vCloud is both a waste of time and valuable storage as well.

I'm moving from using a vCenter directly to a vCloud setup and so far it just seems like a bad fit for internal design use...

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IamTHEvilONE
Immortal
Immortal
‎09-03-2013 01:21 PM

You'll have to wait for 5.5.  http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/products/vCloud/Whats-New-VMware-vCloud-Director-55-Technical-Whitep... - page 5

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yardie
Contributor
Contributor
‎09-03-2013 01:31 PM

IamTHEvilONE wrote:

You'll have to wait for 5.5.  http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/products/vCloud/Whats-New-VMware-vCloud-Director-55-Technical-Whitep... - page 5

Not sure you read all of my question, or I wasn't clear... Yes there's mention of a catalog publish and subscribe feature in 5.5.. but as the doc you linked says it "enables users to share content between separate vCloud Directory instances".. If you read further (page 6) it mentions that "the copying and synchronization of the catalogs is done over HTTPS using the VMware® Content Subscription Protocol (VCSP).". So I'm thinking that means it might not just work with "any old web server" like I said and probably depends on some vCloud-directory specific metadata that's generated by the remote vCloud that publishes the catalog. I just want clarification whether or not "any old web server" will do or if has to be a remote vCloud directory instance. Hope that's more clear.

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IamTHEvilONE
Immortal
Immortal
‎09-03-2013 01:51 PM

you can setup a webserver with a pair of json files to represent the catalog.  The JSON files will contain the metadata required, and you can sync to this like any vCloud Director based ones.

IamTHEvilONE
Immortal
Immortal
‎09-03-2013 01:53 PM

also, please wait until the products official release occurs.  then all the proper documentation should be available.

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yardie
Contributor
Contributor
‎09-03-2013 01:54 PM

Ok thanks for the info.

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