HOL Transfer / Catalog Node

Cloud Director out of band transit node: export and import functionality in addition to the "validate_ovf" functionality to ensure that all component files have been downloaded properly.

A system running these scripts will pull the files (export using ovftool) to the local file system and then push them (import using ovftool) into the local VCD instance.

The idea is that a Linux VM running within the target VMware Cloud Director environment, with external network connectivity via SSH and a direct HTTPS connection to the local VCD instance is the most efficient model for getting content in and out of a VCD instance. The Linux VM requires sufficient local storage to handle at least one exported template. A minimum of 1 TB is recommended, depending on the on-disk sizes of your templates, though more is better!

REQUIRES: VMware ovftool compatible with your version(s) of Cloud Director.

Main configuration is performed in hol-xfer/config.yaml

EXAMPLE Workflow

$ ssh catalog@CATALOG_HOST_NAME

(suggestion to use something like tmux for virtual sessions -- these commands can take many hours to run)

$ tmux attach -t CONTENT

$ cd /hol/hol-xfer

Export from the source cloud

$ bin/export_ovf.py --config config.yaml --cloud_host VCD-CLOUD.vmware.com --cloud_org VCD-ORG --cloud_catalog HOL-Source-Catalog --vapp_template_name TEST_TEMPLATE

Validate that the export has downloaded completely/successfully

$ bin/validate_ovf.py --vapp_template_name TEST_TEMPLATE --repository /hol/lib

"Scrub" the download to clean up the OVF file and pre pit for clean import to another instance.

$ bin/scrub_ovf.py --repository /hol/lib --vapp_template_name 2vm_blank

Import the file to another cloud

$ bin/import_ovf.py --config config.yaml --cloud_host VCD-CLOUD2.vmware.com --cloud_org VCD-ORG2 --cloud_catalog HOL-Target-Catalog --vapp_template_name TEST_TEMPLATE

TODO:

• "pull and verify" to grab a template from another node rather than a VCD instance (replicate from remote rather than export and transfer as part of the same process -- less risk and more recoverability options.
• "mailbox" and daemon to watch for work to do (pull based on request/notification in mailbox)

-Doug Baer 07 February 2022