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This tutorial describes how to capture a remote VM that is connected to a network not managed by Abiquo.

1. Prepare Abiquo to capture virtual machines

To prepare to capture a remote VM, first of all you need a physical machine from which you will capture the VM:

1. Create the datacenter and rack, then add the physical machine

2. Select Retrieve virtual machines.
   Screenshot: The platform marks the retrieved (or imported) VMs with the  symbol. 

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2. Create the networks that the captured VM will be in. 
   For example, in the datacenter, create public or external networks with the same specifications as the VM networks.
   This means the same VLAN tag, network address, available IPs. 

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3. Create the IPs for your VMs in Abiquo 

4. Create a virtual datacenter in the datacenter for your VM. 

5. If you created a public network, you need to purchase public IPs for your virtual datacenter from the Network / Public tab.

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6. You will also need a virtual appliance. You can create it now or wait to do it as part of the capture process.

7. Import the VMs from the physical machine. To do this, go to the datacenter, select the physical machine and click

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1. the

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1. Retrieve VMs from

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1. managed datastores

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1. button.

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The platform will now display the VMs running on the hypervisor that are not managed by Abiquo. 

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Now you will capture the VM so that the platform can manage it.

1. Select the VM you want to capture and click the

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1. Capture VM

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1. button.
   
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2. The GUI will then ask you for the virtual appliance to store the VM. Select your virtual appliance in the virtual datacenter with the network addresses purchased. If you didn't create a virtual appliance earlier, you can do so now by clicking the + add button.

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3. Check the General Information, on the Network tab, select the appropriate NICs and IP address, and check the Disks. 
   
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   VM General information
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   VM Network

4. Accept the capture and the remote VM will be added to the virtual appliance and managed by Abiquo. 
   You can check the VM configuration on the details panel or when you edit the VM.
   The platform will now display the Release VM button instead of the Capture VM button.

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1. The Release VM button is a box with an arrow pointing outwards.

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3. Capture a VM using the API

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To capture a VM using the API

1. Retrieve the virtual appliance the VM will be captured into

   1. The POST to capture the VM is made to the virtual machines URL of the virtual appliance. 

      • It's not really necessary to get the whole virtual appliance, but by doing so, you can validate the link and check that you have the right virtual appliance!

2. Retrieve the virtual machine with resources from the hypervisor in Abiquo

   1. You will modify this virtualmachineflat object to create the request payload for the POST request

3. Retrieve network interfaces for configuration 

   1. You will need the network link and the IP address, to include them in the virtualmachineflat object

4. Optionally retrieve a costcode object to add to the VM

5. Modify the virtualmachineflat object

6. Post the virtualmachineflat object to the virtual machines URL of the virtual appliance

3.1.
Retrieve virtual appliance

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