One of the most common questions our customers ask is ‘How do I upload my own VM images to your platform?’ – here’s a step by step guide.

Step 1 > Have your exported Virtual Machine files ready!

Remember, the StratoGen vCloud Platform will only allow you to upload files in the .OVF format. If you exported your virtual machine in the .OVA format, unfortunately you will need to redo the export process, ensuring you select OVF (Multiple Files option)

Step 2 > Log in to your StratoGen vCloud Director account

Using a supported browser, connect to your URL, as provided by your StratoGen representative at the time of sign up.  Enter your username and password to login to your account.

Step 3 > Select the ‘Catalogs’ tab

The initial homepage for your cloud is displayed. Now click on the ‘Catalogs’ tab.

Step 4> Create a new Organization Catalog

To add your OVFs the files into a catalog, you’ll first need to create one. Click on the green‘+’ to add a new catalog:

Give the catalog a name, and step through the Wizard.

Step 5 > Upload OVF Files

One you’ve created your catalog, open it up, click on the upload button and then browse to the location that you exported the VMware Image file to, which in my case was the desktop:

Select ONLY the .ovf file – the export process will have created a couple of other files but you don’t need to worry about these – the import process will pick them up:

Click the ‘upload’ button in the catalogue wizard, and then wait for the import to the catalog to complete:

The time taken to upload the Image will depend on the size, and the speed of your upload connection.

Step 6 > Deploy Virtual Machine from uploaded image

Once the upload has completed we are then able to deploy the .ovf into your vCloud Virtual Datacentre. In my demo account, I already have a couple of vApps set up, so I’m going to add the uploaded VM to one of my existing vApps.

To do this, open up the vApp, and then click on the ‘Add Virtual Machine’ button. The catalog wizard should pop up, defaulting to the catalog that you just created, and you should see your virtual machine in it. Select the VM, then click the ‘Add’ button and then click ‘Next’:

In the next step we need to give the VM a network connection – choose either the Direct Internet Connection for external connectivity, or import into an existing Internal Network structure – if applicable. Once the network has been added, click next through to the end of the wizard, and the VM Image will begin deploying. If I go back to my vApp diagram I can see the uploaded image is now deployed in my vApp alongside the other servers which were there previously:

That’s it! I can now power up the machine, and my VMware Image has been moved from my local cloud onto the StratoGen VMware Hosting platform.

Troubleshooting File Uploads

If you experience issues trying to upload .OVF files, they will most likely be caused by browser incompatibilities or Java related issues.

Browser Compatibility List (Correct for vCloud Director 1.5.1)

This table outlines support for browsers on Microsoft Windows operating systems:

This table outlines support for browsers on Linux operating systems:

Java Version 7 Issues

We have seen various issues with browsers using Java version 7. Typical problems include the ‘browse’ button not working when trying to load the file selector. If you experience a similar issue we recommend that you install and use Java JRE version 6 instead*. It is best to install the 32Bit and 64Bit versions. You can download the latest Java 6 from this URL:

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/jre-6u32-downloads-1594646.html

*Please check that this won’t impact any existing applications that you already have installed.