Need OVA file for Expedition to install on VMware. Please help!

[JRichardson2]

Is there an updated link to where I can find an OVA file for Expedition Migration Tool?  Thanks!

[dpuigdomenec]

Hi @JRichardson2,

We are not offering the OVA file. Instead you should run the installation script in a VM Ubuntu 20.04.

Please follow the installation guide provided here: 

• Get the Guides

Hope this helps,

David

[dsmall-pa]

Why is there no OVA for this?  There are lots of places this install can go sideways.  Even if it goes smoothly, you could make things much quicker and easier for your customers if you just posted a virtual appliance they could download and run.  You are already expecting your customers to expand their skill sets from Cisco firewalls to Palo.  Before that, you are expecting them to potentially add Linux installation and administration to their repartee.  BTW, not a lot of people know that Fusion is VMware's name for VMware workstation on MAC.  Telling people to click plus in Fusion just adds more instructions that don't have a starting point..... You have to give people context and stop assuming everyone knows everything you know.

[dpuigdomenec]

Hi @dsmall-pa 

Thanks for your feedback.

I will revisit the guide to add notes so it is easier to understand and follow the described steps.

We share an installer instead of an OVA file to allow you install expedition on any hypervisor or even if you deploy it in the cloud as some customers are doing.

Please do not hesitate to contact fwmigrate@paloaltonetworks.com if you have any issue installing or running the tool.

Best regards,

David 

[dsmall-pa]

It took me a day and half to get this tool installed and working, and once working, it does appear to be pretty good.  Even if your virtualization platform of choice is not VMware, an OVA file is well supported across several hypervisors.  I'm sure if you took a pole, more than half of your users would be able to install from an OVA file.  Think of it this way.  Users who have knowledge of other operating systems and/or hypervisors will want an option that gives them the most flexibility.  But for your users who don't want to spend a lot of time learning about a hypervisor, how to install an operating system and then your app, you are giving them nothing.  Give the folks who are already over-worked and don't have the time to learn things they will never use again and option. If I were Palo, I would much rather people spend time learning Palo, than trying to pick a hypervisor, learning how to create a VM in that hypervisor, how to install Linux, how to debug installing an app on Linux when it fails, and learning how to use an app that may or may not be working correctly because it might have been installed incorrectly.