Open Virtualization Format Explained

Open Virtualization Format
Extensions:ovf, ova
Released:V1.0.0
Latest Release Version:2.1.1
Contained By:ova

Open Virtualization Format (OVF) is an open standard for packaging and distributing virtual appliances or, more generally, software to be run in virtual machines.

The standard describes an "open, secure, portable, efficient and extensible format for the packaging and distribution of software to be run in virtual machines". The OVF standard is not tied to any particular hypervisor or instruction set architecture. The unit of packaging and distribution is a so-called OVF Package which may contain one or more virtual systems each of which can be deployed to a virtual machine.

History

In September 2007 VMware, Dell, HP, IBM, Microsoft and XenSource submitted to the Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF) a proposal for OVF, then named "Open Virtual Machine Format".[1]

The DMTF subsequently released the OVF Specification V1.0.0 as a preliminary standard in September, 2008, and V1.1.0 in January, 2010.[2] In January 2013, DMTF released the second version of the standard, OVF 2.0 which applies to emerging cloud use cases and provides important developments from OVF 1.0 including improved network configuration support and package encryption capabilities for safe delivery.

ANSI has ratified OVF 1.1.0 as ANSI standard INCITS 469-2010.[3]

OVF 1.1 was adopted in August 2011 by ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 38 of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) as an International Standard ISO/IEC 17203.[4]

OVF 2.0 brings an enhanced set of capabilities to the packaging of virtual machines, making the standard applicable to a broader range of cloud use cases that are emerging as the industry enters the cloud era. The most significant improvements include support for network configuration along with the ability to encrypt the package to ensure safe delivery.[5]

Design

An OVF package consists of several files placed in one directory. An OVF package always contains exactly one OVF descriptor (a file with extension .ovf). The OVF descriptor is an XML file which describes the packaged virtual machine; it contains the metadata for the OVF package, such as name, hardware requirements, references to the other files in the OVF package and human-readable descriptions. In addition to the OVF descriptor, the OVF package will typically contain one or more disk images, and optionally certificate files and other auxiliary files.[6]

The entire directory can be distributed as an Open Virtual Appliance (OVA) package, which is a tar archive file with the OVF directory inside.

Industry support

OVF has generally been broadly accepted.[7] Several virtualization players in the industry have announced support for OVF.[8] [9] [10] [11]

Virtualization Platform OVF Support Since Release Date
2.2.0[12] April 2009
Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization 2.2[13] March 2010
ESX 3.5, Workstation 6.5, Player 3.1,[14] [15] Fusion 4.0 [16] Dec 2007
5.6[17] or XenConvert before that May 2010
IBM Power server AIX, Linux z/VM, IBM Systems Director (via VMControl Enterprise Edition plug-in, a cross-platform VM manager)[18] [19] [20]
IBM SmartCloud Enterprise 1.4[21] Oct 2011
3.0[22] Aug 2011
4.0[23] c.2008
SUSE Studio[24] Oct 2010
2012[25] 2012?
Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud[26]
Proxmox VE[27] 5.0 [28] Sep 2017
Google Cloud Platform [29] Jan 2020

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: DMTF Press Release on OVF submission 9/2007 . 2008-09-28 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20080916094658/http://www.dmtf.org/newsroom/pr/view?item_key=3b542cbc5e6fc9ede97b9336c29f4c342c02c4e9 . 2008-09-16 .
  2. Web site: DMTF Published Documents page . 2008-09-28 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080703062530/http://www.dmtf.org/standards/published_documents/ . 2008-07-03.
  3. Web site: INCITS 469-2010 Information Technology - Open Virtualization Format (OVF) Specification.
  4. Web site: DMTF Gains International Recognition with Two ISO/IEC Standards . 2013-02-04 .
  5. Web site: OVF 2.0 FAQ. DMTF.org.
  6. Web site: Open Virtualization Format Specification, V1.10 . 2012-03-16.
  7. Web site: techtarget.com article about OVF, 9/2008 . 2008-09-28 . 2008-09-19 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080919123600/http://searchservervirtualization.techtarget.com/news/article/0,289142,sid94_gci1330372,00.html . dead .
  8. Web site: DMTF press release on VMAN Initiative, 9/2008 . 2008-09-28 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20080928010935/http://www.dmtf.org/newsroom/pr/view?item_key=c0a5e6c1c18290ec2a3c174734d7cb8f78b75022 . 2008-09-28 .
  9. Web site: Fortisphere embraces OVF, 9/2008 . 2008-09-28.
  10. Web site: Citrix Systems Unveils Project Kensho for Easy Creation of Hypervisor-Independent Application Workloads, 7/2008 . https://archive.today/20120630091515/http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=102893&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1174869&highlight . dead . 2012-06-30 . 2008-07-15 .
  11. Web site: Microsoft Responds to Citrix OVF Standard, 7/2008 . 2008-07-17 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090927041616/http://hypervoria.com/hyper-v/microsoft-responds-to-citrix-ovf-standard.aspx . 2009-09-27 . dead .
  12. Web site: VirtualBox changelog . 2009-04-13.
  13. Web site: Red Hat Announces Beta Availability of Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization 2.2 . https://web.archive.org/web/20100401115555/http://press.redhat.com/2010/03/29/red-hat-announces-beta-availability-of-red-hat-enterprise-virtualization-2-2/ . 2010-04-01 . Red Hat News . 2010-03-29 . 2010-03-29.
  14. Web site: Open Virtualization Format (OVF) -Virtual Machines - Virtualization . Vmware.com . 2011-12-09 . https://web.archive.org/web/20111207052634/http://www.vmware.com/appliances/getting-started/learn/ovf.html . 2011-12-07 . dead .
  15. Web site: VMware Workstation 7.1 Release Notes . Vmware.com . 2011-12-09.
  16. Web site: VMware Fusion 4.0 Release Notes . VMware . 2011-09-14 . 2020-05-21.
  17. Web site: XenServer 5.6 Release Notes . https://archive.today/20150405104317/http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX124972/ . dead . 2015-04-05 . 2010-05-27 .
  18. Web site: IBM Redbooks | IBM Systems Director VMControl Implementation Guide on IBM Power Systems . Redbooks.ibm.com . 2011-04-06 . 2011-12-09.
  19. http://www-01.ibm.com/common/ssi/ShowDoc.jsp?docURL=/common/ssi/rep_sm/p/897/ENUS5765-EMP/index.html&breadCrum=DET001PT023&url=buttonpressed=DET002PT005&specific_index=DET001PEF010&DET015PGL002=DET001PEF012&submit.x=9&submit.y=12&lang=en_US 5765-EMP IBM Systems Director VMControl Enterprise Edition for Power Systems
  20. Web site: IBM Director v6.1.x . Publib.boulder.ibm.com . 2011-12-09 .
  21. Wu C F, Wang Y S, Liu G N, Amies, A, 2012, Create solutions on IBM SmartCloud Enterprise: Transfer image assets between different accounts IBM developerWorks, June 6.
  22. Web site: What's new in Oracle VM 3.0.
  23. Web site: Images . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20111221064429/http://docs.rpath.com/rbuilder/6.0.3/rPath_User_Guide/ch-import-images.html . 2011-12-21 .
  24. Web site: SUSE Studio . 2012-09-24 . https://web.archive.org/web/20101013014107/http://blog.susestudio.com/2010/10/now-with-ovf-support.html . 2010-10-13 . dead .
  25. Web site: TechNet. 9 September 2016.
  26. Web site: EC2 VM Import/Export Image Formats.
  27. Web site: Add new qm command 'importovf', to create VMs from an OVF manifest.
  28. Web site: qemu-server package changelog . 2020-04-25 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180309120328/https://git.proxmox.com/?p=qemu-server.git%3Ba%3Dblob%3Bf%3Ddebian%2Fchangelog%3Bh%3D3e6f2f56946c0c615f5d2246fe00774f6e996ebe%3Bhb%3DHEAD#l103 . 2018-03-09 . dead .
  29. Web site: Import virtual appliances.

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