17.2. Uploading VMDK images and creating a RHEL virtual machine in vSphere

Procedure

1. Configure the following values in the user environment with the GOVC environment variables:

   GOVC_URL
   GOVC_DATACENTER
   GOVC_FOLDER
   GOVC_DATASTORE
   GOVC_RESOURCE_POOL
   GOVC_NETWORK

2. Navigate to the directory where you downloaded your VMware vSphere image.

3. Launch the VMware vSphere image on vSphere by following the steps:

   1. Import the VMware vSphere image into vSphere:

      $ govc import.vmdk ./api.vmdk <folder-name>

      • For the .ova format:

        $ govc import.ova ./api.ova <folder-name>

   2. Create the VM in vSphere without powering it on:

      govc vm.create \
      -net.adapter=vmxnet3 \
      -m=4096 -c=2 -g=rhel8_64Guest \
      -firmware=efi -disk="<folder-name>/api.vmdk” \
      -disk.controller=scsi -on=false \
       vmname

      For the .ova format, replace the line -firmware=efi -disk="folder_name/api.vmdk” with -firmware=efi -disk=”<folder-name>/api.ova”

   3. Power-on the VM:

      $ govc vm.power -on <vm-name>

   4. Retrieve the VM IP address:

      $ govc vm.ip <vm-name>

   5. Use SSH to log in to the VM, using the username and password you specified in your blueprint:

      $ ssh admin@ <vm-ip-address>

      注記

      If you copied the .vmdk image from your local host to the destination using the govc datastore.upload command, using the resulting image is not supported. There is no option to use the import.vmdk command in the vSphere GUI and as a result, the vSphere GUI does not support the direct upload. The .vmdk image is not usable from the vSphere GUI.