Virtual
Applications
A virtual application consists of one or
more virtual machines, which are deployed, managed, and maintained as a single
unit. This chapter explains how to use the vSphere Web Services SDK for
building and managing a virtual application.
About Virtual Applications A virtual application specifies and encapsulates the components of virtual machines and applications, and the operational policies and service levels associated with those components. A virtual application can be as simple as an individual virtual machine with a specific operating system (virtual appliance), or as complex as a complete corporate Web site. Each virtual machine in a virtual application contains a preinstalled, preconfigured operating system and might contain an application stack optimized to provide a specific set of services.Creating a VirtualApp You always create a VirtualApp without children. The CreateVApp method includes the following parameters:Managing VirtualApp Children You can add virtual machines and virtual applications to your virtual application as direct or linked children. Exporting a Virtual Application To export a virtual application, you must generate an OVF package. The Web Services API supports the generation of OVF packages. It does not support the generation of OVA files. An OVA file is a tar file that contains an OVF package. The OVF package consists of one of more images and an OVF file descriptor. You can create an OVA file by creating a tar file out of the OVF package for your exported virtual application. Importing an OVF Package To import the virtual application OVF template, you follow a few basic steps. The steps are the same for an OVF package that contains a single virtual machines or an OVF package that contains a more complex virtual application. Virtual Application Life Cycle You can power a virtual application on or off and perform other lifecycle operations.