Using Content Libraries

Use content libraries with PowerCLI to store and distribute various forms of content within your vSphere environment. Content libraries function as container entities within vSphere, allowing you to save and distribute items such as OVF and OVA packages, virtual machine templates, vApp templates, and various file types.

You can use content libraries to share VM and vApp templates, and other types of files, such as ISO images, text files, and so on, across your vCenter Server instances. Sharing templates across your virtual environment promotes consistency, compliance, efficiency, and automation in deploying workloads at scale.

A content library instance represents a container for a set of library items. A content library item instance represents the logical object stored in the content library, which might be one or more usable files.

You create and manage the content of a content library on a single vCenter Server instance, but you can distribute the content to other vCenter Server instances.

Depending on your needs, you can maintain two types of content libraries: local and subscribed. You can shape the contents of a library item and then combine several library items in a local content library. Furthermore, you can publish the library to make its content available to other users.