Open Virtualization Format Specification (OVF). Which is a little talked about open standard developed for packaging and distributing virtual appliances (think cloud, SaaS and much more). It is developed by the Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF), which is a group of key figures from companies such as, IBM, VMware, NEC, Microsoft, Dell, Intel and more. Below are some of the high-level highlights taken from the latest release:
1.1 included the following:
- Capability for file system-based images to increase flexibility at deployment time
- A property attribute to hide password values at the user interface
- Joliet extensions for ISO transport image
A good example of how OVF can be used is Zimbra which VMware acquired earlier this year. Here is a link to how you can test Zimbra using OVF.
As well, check out VMware’s market place for other examples.
Link to the official VMware OVF Tool User Guide.
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