The correct answer is C. Import the virtual appliance into the environment and deploy it as a VM.
A virtual appliance is a pre-packaged and pre-configured software solution that runs on a virtual machine (VM). A virtual appliance typically consists of an operating system, an application, and any required dependencies, and is designed to provide a specific function or service. A virtual appliance can be distributed as a single file or a set of files that can be imported into a virtualization platform, such as VMware, Hyper-V, or KVM .
A cloud administrator can deploy a security virtual appliance in a private cloud environment by importing the virtual appliance into the environment and deploying it as a VM. This is the best way to accomplish this task because it preserves the original configuration and functionality of the virtual appliance, and does not require any additional installation or customization. The cloud administrator can also control the access and visibility of the virtual appliance, and prevent other users from requesting it from the standard catalog of items .
Creating an empty VM, importing the hard disk of the virtual appliance, and configuring the CPU and memory is not the best way to accomplish this task because it involves more steps and complexity than importing the virtual appliance as a whole. It also introduces the risk of losing or corrupting some data or settings during the import process, or misconfiguring the CPU and memory for the virtual appliance.
Acquiring the build scripts from the vendor and recreating the appliance using the baseline templates is not the best way to accomplish this task because it involves more time and effort than importing the virtual appliance directly. It also depends on whether the vendor provides the build scripts or not, and whether they are compatible with the baseline templates or not.
Converting the virtual appliance to a template and deploying a new VM using the template is not the best way to accomplish this task because it adds an unnecessary step of creating a template from the virtual appliance. It also does not prevent other users from accessing or requesting the template from the catalog of items.