After you download the OVF descriptor of a vApp or vApp template, you can examine the contents of the descriptor to discover download URLs for .vmdk and other files in the package.

The OVF descriptor includes an href value for each file that the descriptor references. To retrieve one of these files, you must create a download URL for it by combining this href value with a URL derived from the download URL that you used to retrieve the descriptor. You must retrieve all of the referenced files to create a valid OVF package.

This operation requires the rights included in the predefined vApp Author role or an equivalent set of rights.

Retrieve the OVF descriptor of a vApp or vApp template that has been enabled for download.

1

For each File element in the References element of the descriptor, construct a download URL.

a

Start with the URL that you used to download the descriptor.

This URL is the href value of the download:default link that the template contains.

b

Replace the final component of that URL with the value of the href attribute of the File element.

2

Use the constructed URLs to download each file.

See Example: Downloading a Referenced File.

The request URL shown in this example combines the URL used in the request portion of Example: Downloading the OVF Descriptor with the file name shown in this File element:

<File
   ovf:href="disk0.vmdk"
   ovf:id="file1"
   ovf:size="1950489088"/>

Request:

GET https://vcloud.example.com/transfer/..../disk0.vmdk

Response:

200 OK
...
   ...serialized contents of file disk0.vmdk...

EOF

Note

The downloaded package is valid only if the descriptor and all of its referenced files maintain the same relationship in the local file system that they had on the transfer server file system. In this case, the descriptor and disk0.vmdk were both in the same directory, which is the default arrangement.