Specifying a Locator

A source or target locator points to a specific resource. Locators must specify a protocol, which defines how to reach the resource. Supported protocols are file access, vSphere, HTTP, HTTPS, and FTP.
File locators can point to an OVF package (
.ovf
or
.ova
), a virtual machine (
.vmx
). HTTP, HTTPS, or a vApprun workspace entity. FTP locators can point to OVF and OVA files. The resource type is determined from the filename suffix, unless one or both of the options
--sourceType
and
--targetType
are used explicitly.
vSphere locators can point to various resource types: virtual machines, vApps, hosts, clusters, or resource pools. For a source locator, the resource type must be a virtual machine or vApp. For a target locator, the resource type must be a host, cluster, or a resource pool. A vSphere locator is used for a vSphere server, vCenter Server, VMware Server, or an ESXi host.
At the command line, type
--help locators
to display the online help for locators.
Table 1 and Table 2 list the default extensions of the different source and target types, as well as which protocols are supported.
Source Locator
Source Type
Default File Extension
Protocol
Example
OVF
.ovf
File, HTTP, HTTPS, FTP
/ovfs/my_vapp.ovf
OVA
.ova
File, HTTP, HTTPS, FTP
/ovfs/my_vapp.ova
VMX
.vmx
File
/vms/my_vm.vmx
vApprun
N/A
File
~/my_vApprun_workspace/MyVM
vCloud Director
N/A
HTTPS
vcloud://username:password@mycloud.org/ \
org=MyOrg&vdc=MyVDC&catalog=MyCatalog \ &vapp=myVapp
vSphere
N/A
vSphere
vi://username:pass@localhost/my_datacenter/vm/ \ my_vms_folder/my_vm_name
Target Locator
Target Type
File Extension
Protocol
Example
OVF
.ovf
File
/ovfs/my_vapp.ovf
OVA
.ova
File
/ovfs/my_vapp.ova
VMX
.vmx
File (Source must be a
single virtual machine)
/vms/my_vm.vmx
vApprun
N/A
File
~/my_vApprun_workspace/MyVM
vCloud Director
N/A
HTTPS
vcloud://username:password@mycloud.org/ \
org=MyOrg&vdc=MyVDC&catalog=MyCatalog \ &vapp=myVapp
vSphere
N/A
vSphere (If the vSphere
target locator is on a VMware
Server system, or directly on
an ESXi host, the source must
be a single virtual machine)
vi://username:pass@localhost/my_datacenter/vm/ \ my_vms_folder/my_vm_name