Knowledge

• Determine whether a vApp is appropriate for a given situation
  A vApp is a logical group of VMs that have a dependency on each other. When you are not using a vApp starting or stopping an application that exists out of multiple VMs means you need to start / stop the VMs in a particular order by hand. When the fist VM is started (let’s say a domain controller) you need to check is it is up (Tools report back, or see the CTRL-ALT-DEL screen) and then start the next server. This is exactly what a vApp automates for you in combination with a Resource Pool. A vApp allows you to:
  • Determine a start-up oder including dependencies (start only when.. ) and define groups of VMs to start / stop when a criteria is met.
  • Configures resources like you would using a resource pool
  • Configure vApp properties and version numbers
  • Configure vApp IP allocation
  • Nest other vApps within a vApp. You can manage a vApp within a vApp as a single server. This makes using vApps really powerful.
• Define Open Virtual Machine Format (OVF)
  The Open Virtual Machine Format (OVF) is a format the allows for VMs to be migrated between different platforms of virtualization. In short you can migrate a OVF VM easily between VMware ESX and Hyper-V / Xen. (assuming those support the OVF as well). Another benefit of the OVF is that the VMs are compressed by default make to size of the file smaller. In the “File” menu you can choose to deploy or export OVF templates. You can use the OVF tool to import / export VMs from and to the OVF format. Read more here. http://www.vmware.com/go/ovf_guide
• Import/Export a Virtual Appliance
  You can import a Virtual Appliance by using the VA Marketplace. This is a part of the VMware website where VMs are offered by vendors of software that you can use for preview of production purposes depending on the type of software offered. To access the VA Marketplace choose:
  • File
  • “VA Martketplace…”
    
    
  • Select a VM in the screen that pop’s up to download and follow the wizard to install this in you VI.
• Build a vApp
  To build a new vApp:
  • Right click you cluster and select “New vApp…”
  • Follow the wizard that appears
  • To add VM to the vApp drag and drop the VM into the vApp
• Create/Add virtual machines to a vApp
  Oops, just told you… ;-). To add a VM to a vApp drag and drop the VM on to the vApp.
• Edit vApp Properties
  To edit a vApp:
  • Right click a vApp
  • Select “Edit Settings”
  • Adjust the settings as needed. The settings that can be edited are explained earlier in this chapter.
• Export vApps
  To export a vApp:
  • Click “File” in the vCente client
  • Choose “Export”, “Export OVF Template”
• Clone a vApp
  To clone a vApp:
  • Right click the vApp (the vApp has to be shut down for this option to be selectable)
  • Choose “Clone” from the menu (the vApp has to be shut down for this option to be selectable)

Tools

• vSphere Basic System Administration Guide
• Product Documentation
• vSphere Client
• OVF Tool