Uploading an ISO in a datastore

Objective

Find out how to manipulate data in a folder in your vSphere database.

Requirements

Access to the OVHcloud Control Panel.
You must be the technical administrator of the VMware on OVHcloud infrastructure.
Ensure TCP port range 40050–40255 is open on your firewall to allow file uploads/downloads to the datastore.
If you are using IAM, ensure that you have the rights, roles, and actions to upload files or create directories in the Datastore. For more information, please refer to our guide: IAM for VMware on OVHcloud - Overview and FAQ.

Instructions

Info

This guide replaces the SFTP method, which is now deprecated.

Step 1 - Upload with HTML client

Access the datastore

You then need to access the directories where you want to store your files (ISO, for example). The goal is to create a tree-view so that you can easily find your elements within your managed vSphere.

Upload files

There are two ways of accessing it, and you are free to choose the one that best suits you:

1. From the menu Inventory:

Images	Steps
	- Click `Inventory`.
	- From `pcc-XXX-XXX-XXX-XXX.ovh.XX`, click `Databases`.

You will then find all of your datastores listed.

Click on your database to see a Files section in which your window will automatically open.

In the Files section of your open database, click DOWNLOAD FILES

Locate the item to upload from your local computer (e.g. a XXX.iso file) and click Open to upload the file (ISO or otherwise) from your machine connected to the vSphere HTML client.

The upload of the ISO file begins automatically without validation in the folder (if any) of your selected data store.

You can refresh the Data Store File Explorer to see the uploaded file in the list.

You can then launch this ISO file from a CD/DVD device within your VM, and launch the OS installation by following the installation process. However, it is recommended that you use OVHcloud deployment templates, or VM clones that have been transformed into templates (templates) by yourself.

2. From the menu Global Inventory Lists

This menu also links you to the Files upload interface:

Images	Steps
	- Click `Global Inventory Lists`.
	- Then on `Databases`.

Click on the desired Datastore.

You will find yourself in the Files section, where you can upload data to your database.

Then click DOWNLOAD FILES to select the file (ISO or other) to upload from your local machine.

Locate the item you want to upload from your local computer (e.g. file XXX.iso) and click Open

Upload folders

From your database, in the Files section, click DOWNLOAD A FOLDER.

Locate the item to upload from your machine connected to the vSphere HTML client and click Open

Upload will not start until you confirm:

Images	Steps
	- To confirm, click `Send`.

Move/Copy files

From your database, click MOVE TO or COPY TO.

Locate the destination item to move from the database and click OK.

You must have sufficient rights to perform these actions.

Rename files

From your database, click Replace name with.

Rename your file, then click OK.

Create a folder (optional)

In the Files section of your database, click NEW FOLDER to create a folder to store your files.

Name your folder and click OK.

Step 2 - Upload with Govc

A GB library for interacting with VMware vSphere APIs (ESXi and/or vCenter Server) is provided by VMware. You can read the READ ME of the Github repository at this url

In addition to the vSphere API client, this repository includes:

govc - vSphere CLI
vcsim - vSphere API mock framework
toolbox - VM Guest Tools Framework

These are the environment variables that will be required to configure Govc authentication with the VMware api:

Environment variable	Standard	Advanced/Premium (NSX + vSAN)	Comments
`GOVC_DATACENTER`	`pcc-XXX-XX-XX-XX_datacenterXXXX`	`pcc-XXX-XX-XX-XX_datacenterXXXX`	- The name of the default datacentre in the VMWare sense.
`GOVC_USERNAME`	`uname`	`uname`	- The local VMware vSphere on OVHcloud connection user. You can omit this variable if you specify your credentials in the `GOVC-URL` variable.
`GOVC_PASSWORD`	`p4sswor_DXXXXXx`	`p4sswor_DXXXXXx`	- The login password for the local VMware vSphere on OVHcloud user. You can omit this variable if you specify your credentials in the `GOVC-URL` variable.
`GOVC_URL`	`user:pass@host` `vsphere.local` `vc.local` `pcc-XXX-XX-XX-XX.ovh.XX`	`user:pass@host` `vsphere.local` `vc.local` `pcc-XXX-XX-XX-XX.ovh.XX`	- The IP or hostname of the VMware vSphere on OVHcloud host. You can also specify the user ID and password, such as `user:pass@host`. And you pass variables `GOVC_USERNAME/PASSWORD`. Warning: the `host` defines the IP of your ESX and not the `pcc-XXX-XXX-XXX-XXX`. If you use govc within a VM in your environment, you can add in `host`: `vsphere.local` or `vc.local`.
`GOVC_DATASTORE`	`ssd-XXXXXX` `nfs-XXXXXX`	`ssd-XXXXXX` `nfs-XXXXXX` `vsanDatastore`	- The default datastore in the VMWare sense.
`GOVC_NETWORK`	`172.XX.XX.XX`	`172.XX.XX.XX`	- The default network in the VMWare sense. You can find them in your global inventory `Networks`.
`GOVC_HOST`	`172.XX.XX.XX`	`172.XX.XX.XX`	- The default host in the VMWare sense. You can find them in your global inventory `Hosts`.
`GOVC_RESOURCE_POOL`	`ovhServer`	`ovhServer`	- The default resource pool in the VMWare sense. You can find them in your global inventory `Resource Pools`.
`HTTP_PROXY`	`http://XXX.XX.XX.XX:XXXXX`	`http://XXX.XX.XX.XX:XXXXX`	- The URL of your proxy server without https.
`HTTPS_PROXY`	`https://XXX.XX.XX.XX:XXXXX`	`https://XXX.XX.XX.XX:XXXXX`	- The URL of your proxy server with https.

Linux

Windows

Installation

With the binary:

You can download the binary from the official VMware Github repository assets: https://github.com/vmware/govmomi/releases

The Curl below automatically chooses the correct version needed for your operating system (uname) and downloads the binary in compressed version tar.gz.

You must have access to the internet to download it, otherwise the curl will not work. If you do not have a curl, tar and uname. Install them before launching the command by running this command:

Depending on the operating system: Ubuntu/debian -> apt, Redhat/Centos -> yum/dnf.

Choose the installer you want.

sudo apt/dnf/yum install curl tar uname -y

Be careful to download the Govc asset, which has the correct version of the operating system you are using (Windows/Linux, Debian/Freebsd, x64_86/arm, arm/arm64, etc.).

# extract govc binary to /usr/local/bin
# note: the "tar" command must run with root permissions
curl -L -o - "https://github.com/vmware/govmomi/releases/latest/download/govc_$(uname -s)_$(uname -m).tar.gz" | tar -C /usr/local/bin -xvzf - govc

We also advise you to check the sum of the hash downloaded.

wget https://github.com/vmware/govmomi/releases/download/v0.43.0/checksums.txt
sha256sum govc_xxxx.tar.gz > checksums_govc_XX.txt
sha256sum -c checksums_govc_XX.txt 2>&1 | grep OK
cat checksums.txt

Note: You must be root to run tar or have sufficient sudo rights. Depending on the rights of the user used on your operating system, you must also add the execution rights on the Govc binary, for example.

With go install :

go install github.com/vmware/govmomi/govc@latest

With Docker:

A Docker image can be a good way to run the Govc binary in a versioned, isolated way.

The official VMware Docker image govc is built from this Dockerfile.

Example of Docker govc image execution with environment variables see concepts in the rest of the documentation.

docker run -e GOVC_USERNAME=XXXXX -e GOVC_PASSWORD=XXXXX -e GOVC_URL=https://pcc-XX-XX-XX-XX.ovh.de --rm -it vmware/govc /govc ls
or
docker run -e GOVC_URL=user:pass@host --rm -it vmware/govc /govc ls

For alternative installations, check out the official VMware Git Govc repository at this URL.

Configuration/Authentication

The program provides a wide range of arguments for defining the conditions for accessing the API (e.g. its URL, user/password, etc.). However, we recommend using environment variables to manage your clusters more efficiently, especially if you need to connect to several APIs. They can also be placed in a file for reuse during another session, for example.

Here is a configuration example for a Linux OS. Remember to create your govc.env file in the root of the folder where you launch the binary.

# govc.env
export GOVC_DATACENTER=<Default datacenter name as defined by VMWare>
export GOVC_USERNAME=<vmware local user>
export GOVC_PASSWORD=<VMware local user password>
export GOVC_URL=<IP or hostname of vsphere>
export GOVC_DATASTORE=<Default Datastore>

# If you need to use a network proxy
# export HTTP_PROXY=http://XXX.XX.X.X:XXXXX
export HTTPS_PROXY=http://XXX.XX.X.X:XXXXX

As with any file containing variables, you just need to source it from a terminal.

source govc.env

At the launch of each command, options can be modified on the fly to overload the environment variables, for example:

govc datastore.ls -dc=Datacenter2 -ds=Datastore1 -debug=true

Please note that if you use the debug command (the “=true” is optional, as it is a Go flag), a hidden folder `.govmomi/debug” will be created, with logs you can use to trace your problem.

Usage

We will show you the Govc datastore.upload upload command here.

First of all, it is important to understand that within a datacentre, objects are grouped in the same type, under VM, Network, Host and Datastore. Thus, there is only one method for uploading files with the command govc datastore.upload.

gov datastore.upload image.iso folder-isos/image.iso

Download + Upload :

Here is an example of uploading an ISO image with govc. Be sure to locate the folder to which you want to import your ISO, if you have one:

Download an ISO with curl before uploading it using a shell pipe:

curl https://example.com/iso/image.iso | govc datastore.upload - folder-iso/image.iso

Govc has a large number of commands to call the VMware API to manage your managed resources. Please see the full list in the official documentation.

Installation

Since 2017 Curl and bsdtar -> tar are installed by default, so you can run the command below with Powershell, CMD or the prompt you prefer.

With Powershell :

You can install the Govc binary with Powershell by running the command below:

curl -L -o - "https://github.com/vmware/govmomi/releases/latest/download/govc_$(uname -s)_$(uname -m).tar.gz" | tar -C /usr/local/bin -xvzf - govc

If you prefer, you can simply unzip the following Govc Windows asset (x86_64.zip) after downloading it at the following URL: https://github.com/vmware/govmomi/releases/download/v0.43.0/govc_Windows_x86_64.zip

With Chocolatey :

You can use the official Powershell Chocolatey repository, however we recommend the most recent version on the VMware Github repository (above).

Set-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process -Force; iex ((New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString('https://chocolate.org/install.ps1'))
choco install govc
choco install jq

jq allows you to list Govc returns correctly in Powershell.

Configuration/Authentication

With Powershell :

There are several ways to configure environment variables with Windows and Powershell, here are some examples (see the comments for each command and powershell variable).

# Set env variables with Set-item :
Set-Item -Path env:GOVC_URL -Value "https://pcc-XX-XX-XX-XX.ovh.xx"

# Set env variables for your vCenter, just push "Enter" :
$vcenter = "<your_vcenter_fqdn>"
$cred = get-credential

# Credentials configuration :
New-VICredentialStoreItem -Host $vcenter -User $cred.username -Password $cred.GetNetworkCredential().password

# Set env variables, just push "Enter" :
$env:GOVC_URL="https://"<pcc-XX-XX-XX-XX.ovh.xx>"
$env:GOVC_USERNAME="<uname>"
$env:GOVC_PASSWORD="<p4sswor_DXXXXXx>"
$env:GOVC_DATASTORE="<datastore_name>"
$env:GOVC_NETWORK="<portgroup_name>"
$env:GOVC_RESOURCE_POOL="<ovhServer>"

# Check GOVC variables:
ls env:GOVC*

# Check configuration from env vars setup :
Get-Item env:* | sort-object name
gov about

# With jq :
gov about -json | jq '.'

There are several ways to make Govc work with Windows, powershell being the most well-known. But there is an alternative solution, Windows has implemented WSL 2 (Windows subsystem for Linux) which can be a good alternative to simplify the configuration.

Usage

Upload:

To upload an ISO with powershell and Govc, use the Govc datastore.upload argument

gov datastore.upload - folder-iso/image.iso