How to Import VMware Templates

  • Article

Applies To: Virtual Machine Manager 2008, Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2, Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2 SP1

After you add a VMware VirtualCenter server to VMM, use the Import templates action in Administration view to import your VMware templates to the Virtual Machine Manager library so that you can use the templates in VMM.

Before you can import the templates, you must have specified the administrative account to use for connections to each ESX Server host that stores templates. If the VirtualCenter server is managed in secure mode, you must also provide a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate for the host. For hosts running either ESX Server 3.5 or ESX Server 3.0.2, secure mode also requires an SSH public key. For more information, see Configuring Security for a Managed VMware Environment in VMM (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=145051). For a procedure for configuring host security information in VMM, see How to Set Credentials for Communicating with a Host.

Note

To transfer the virtual machine objects (virtual hard disks, ISO images, and so forth) from the ESX Server host to the VMM library server, the library server must be able to resolve the IP address of the ESX Server host. If the host is referred to by its IP address, the library server must have network connectivity to the ESX Server host. If the host is referred to by its Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN), the library server must be able to resolve the FQDN to an IP address to connect to the host.

How to import templates from a VMware VirtualCenter server

  1. In Administration view, click Virtualization Manager in the navigation pane.

  2. In the results pane, select the VirtualCenter server associated with the templates.

  3. In the Actions pane, under Virtualization Manager, click Import templates.

  4. In the Select Templates dialog box, select each template that you want to import.

    Note

    If you attempt to import a VMware virtual machine and a VMware template with the same name, only the virtual machine will import, and the template will not appear in the Import Templates dialog box. To work around this issue, rename the template with a unique name, and then import it.

  5. In the Library Path field, specify a library share to store the templates on. Use the Browse button to navigate to a specific folder within a library share.

  6. Click OK to begin importing the templates into the VMM library.

    The .vmdk files are added to the library as virtual hard disk resources, which can be used as a source for a virtual machine. The .vmx files are indexed in VMM but are not added to the library.

See Also

Concepts

How to Add a VMware VirtualCenter Server
How to Set Credentials for Communicating with a Host

Other Resources

Configuring VMM to Manage a VMware Infrastructure 3 Environment
Configuring Security for a Managed VMware Environment in VMM
Managing a VMware Infrastructure in VMM