Short for Open Virtualization Format. VM templates are packaged to this open standard; one use is deploying Site Recovery appliances onto VMware vSphere.
Also called Open Virtualization Format.
Read more: Microsoft Learn
In the Ultra Transcenders books
Each book explains OVF in context, with comparison tables and the common traps.
Terms in this definition
- Standard deployment type
A Foundry deployment type billed per token that keeps processing of prompts and responses inside the Azure geography of the resource, meeting data residency needs at lower volumes.
- Azure Site Recovery
Disaster recovery service replicating VMs to a secondary site or region; recovery time is measured in minutes and recovery points are kept for no longer than 15 days.
- vSphere
VMware's platform for virtualisation, made up of vCenter and ESX hosts, supplying compute for VCF clusters.
Related terms
- Configuration server
Appliance that orchestrated replication of VMware machines for the older Site Recovery experience; you ran it on-premises, importing an OVF template into vSphere. Microsoft retired that classic approach in March 2026.