Extraction of the VCSA as OVA

Where is the Open Virtual Appliance (OVA) file of the vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA)?

The usual setup process utilizes a helper system (Win, Mac, Linux) to which the ISO is beeing mounted. In my case I had to import an OVA to Ravello-Cloud without using a helper system.

VCSA 6.0

You’ll find the OVA a bit hidden within the ISO of vCenter Appliance 6.0.

If you open the ISO with an archiver tool like 7zip you’ll find a folder “vcsa” in the ISO’s root directory.

Change directory into folder vcsa.

Extract file vmware-vcsa from the archive.

Rename vmware-vcsa to vmware-vcsa.ova.

The aplliance can be directly imported into test environments or cloud solutions.

VCSA 6.5

With VCSA 6.5 it’s even easier. There you’ll find the OVA in the ISO and just need to extract it.