Exporting Virtual Box VM to ESXi

It's not as straightforward though..

1. Use the ovftool (download from VMware site).
2. Convert from .ova to ovf file

D:\09.Software\VirtualBox>dir
 Volume in drive D is Scratch
 Volume Serial Number is E4B9-804B

 Directory of D:\09.Software\VirtualBox

28/07/2020  11:20 AM    <DIR>          .
28/07/2020  11:20 AM    <DIR>          ..
28/07/2020  11:20 AM                 0 Unica-Master-disk1.vmdk.tmp
11/05/2020  06:48 PM    10,475,668,992 Unica-Master.ova
11/05/2020  06:50 PM     3,194,468,352 Unica-Node1.ova
11/05/2020  04:13 PM       106,593,800 VirtualBox-6.1.6-137129-Win.exe
               4 File(s) 13,776,731,144 bytes
               2 Dir(s)  1,704,651,988,992 bytes free

D:\09.Software\VirtualBox>c:ovftool Unica-Node1.ova Unica-Node1.ovf
Opening OVA source: Unica-Node1.ova
Opening OVF target: Unica-Node1.ovf
Writing OVF package: Unica-Node1.ovf
Transfer Completed
The manifest validates
Warning:
 - No supported manifest(sha1, sha256, sha512) entry found for: 'Unica-Node1-disk001.vmdk'.
Completed successfully

3. Edit the file .ovf (refer to https://jekil.sexy/blog/2015/this-ovf-package-requires-unsupported-hardware.html)

Change this:

<vssd:VirtualSystemType>virtualbox-2.2</vssd:VirtualSystemType>

with:

<vssd:VirtualSystemType>vmx-07</vssd:VirtualSystemType>

Change this:

<Item>

<rasd:Address>0</rasd:Address>

<rasd:Caption>sataController0</rasd:Caption>

<rasd:Description>SATA Controller</rasd:Description>

<rasd:ElementName>sataController0</rasd:ElementName>

<rasd:InstanceID>5</rasd:InstanceID>

<rasd:ResourceSubType>AHCI</rasd:ResourceSubType>

<rasd:ResourceType>20</rasd:ResourceType>

</Item>

with:

<Item>

<rasd:Address>0</rasd:Address>

<rasd:Caption>SCSIController</rasd:Caption>

<rasd:Description>SCSI Controller</rasd:Description>

<rasd:ElementName>SCSIController</rasd:ElementName>

<rasd:InstanceID>5</rasd:InstanceID>

<rasd:ResourceSubType>lsilogic</rasd:ResourceSubType>

<rasd:ResourceType>6</rasd:ResourceType>

</Item>

Other problems could happen if in the <Item> is listed an audio card, you should delete whole line starting from

<Item>
sound-card-settings
</Item>

Refer to: https://www.widenet.it/blog/2017/09/19/troubleshooting-importing-ovf-template-into-vmware-esxi/

OR:

<Item>

<rasd:Caption>sound</rasd:Caption>

<rasd:Description>Sound Card</rasd:Description>

<rasd:InstanceId>6</rasd:InstanceId>

<rasd:ResourceType>35</rasd:ResourceType>

<rasd:ResourceSubType>ensoniq1371</rasd:ResourceSubType>

<rasd:AutomaticAllocation>false</rasd:AutomaticAllocation>

<rasd:AddressOnParent>3</rasd:AddressOnParent>

</Item>

To the above section, add the following after the first <Item> tag:

<Item ovf:required="false"

(refer to: https://format390.rssing.com/chan-21863363/all_p1194.html)

Save and close. Now your edited file screwed the integrity check, so have to skip manifest:

D:\09.Software\VirtualBox>c:ovftool --disableVerification --skipManifestCheck  --noSSLVerify --datastore="XPG SX8200 PRO" --network="VM Network" Unica-Node1.ovf vi://root@192.168.1.201

Opening OVF source: Unica-Node1.ovf

The manifest does not validate

Enter login information for target vi://192.168.1.201/

Username: root

Password: ********

Opening VI target: vi://root@192.168.1.201:443/

Info:    License agreement for the virtual system

License: The image created only for HCL Software's support team training.

         Contact to Hansraj Mali for more details.

Accept end-user license agreement?

Write 'yes' or 'no' (write 'read' to reread the EULA):

yes

Warning:

 - The specified operating system identifier 'RedHat_64' (id: 80) is not supported on the selected host. It will be mapped to the following OS identifier: 'Other (32-bit)'.

Deploying to VI: vi://root@192.168.1.201:443/

Transfer Completed

Warning:

 - The manifest is present but user flag causing to skip it

Completed successfully

Now you can see it in ESXi: