Replace a template disk with the AM API

Requirements

• This request requires direct access to the Appliance Manager API

• Make a backup of your template folder before you begin

• If you are replacing a disk that was created from an instance of a captured VM,
  before you upload your new disk, add an Abiquo OVF file to the original VM template folder .
  You may be able to copy the OVF file of another template and modify it

Example use case

Here is an example use case

1. Upload or download a template

2. Use it to create a VM 

3. Update the template.  Abiquo supports changes to:

   1. file content

   2. size

   3. format

   4. capacity

   5. controller

   Update the disk using the Appliance manager API.

4. When the user next deploys the VM, the platform will copy the updated disk

Create a data object

You will need a JSON file to describe the disk.
The steps below describe how to obtain the values of {TEMPLATE_URL}, {DISK_URL}, and {FOLDER_PATH} from the Abiquo UI.
You must set the correct requiredHDInMB for the deployed disk in Abiquo before you deploy the VM.
Try to complete the other disk data as best you can.

1. Log in to Abiquo and open developer tools in your browser

2. Go to Network and record requests

3. Select and edit the template.

   Open

   

   Select the disk in the UI

4. From the developer tools console, select the request to get the disks.
   Here you will find the:

   1. Template URL and disk URL

   2. Current path on the repository file system

      Open

      

      Find the disk edit link href value and path in dev tools

5. Complete the JSON object with the data from your API. For example, from the values above

   { "virtualMachineTemplateUrl":"https://mjsabiquo.lab.example.com/admin/enterprises/1/datacenterrepositories/1/virtualmachinetemplates/72", "diskUrl":"https://mjsabiquo.lab.example.com/admin/enterprises/1/datacenterrepositories/1/virtualmachinetemplates/72/disks/74", "currentPath":"1/bundle/e05785d2-b49a-4034-9bb9-3440e1693589-4ba3b6e1-6f06-47d9-8703-9e9/daf2f2fb-d3d0-4263-a466-d1b27a0d6864-new+dsl+disk.vmdk", "diskController": "lsilogic", "diskControllerType": "SCSI", "diskFileFormat":"VMDK_STREAM_OPTIMIZED", "diskFilePath": "", "label": "Hard disk 1", "requiredHDInMB":120, "sequence":0 }

6. Save it to a file called diskReplace.json

Obtain the URL

• To create the URL for the request, you will need:

  • The URL to reach the Remote Services server with the AM remote service.
    The rs_url is the URL of the AM, without any /api path. For example, https://mjsremoteservices.lab.example.com.

  • The folder part the path attribute

• The basic URL format is as follows

• So for the above example, this will be

Obtain an authorization token

If you wish to use token authentication, which is more secure and required for 2FA, do these steps.

To obtain an authorization token, send a GET request to the API login resource.

Use basic authentication and get the token from the X-Abiquo-Token header.

If you are using 2FA, you can get the 2FA verification code in the usual way (by email or from Google Authenticator).

Log in again and send the 2FA verification code.

Now you can get the token from the X-Abiquo-Token header of the response.

In your API requests, use the token in a header with the following format.

In this example we have shortened the token.
In the workflow below, we represent the token with {api_token}.

For more details, see Authentication.

Replace the file

We recommend that you use double quotation marks around all the parameters, including the file parameters for diskInfo and diskFile.

Replace newdisk.vmdk  with the name of your disk file on the local file system.

Example request:

Use double quotation marks around all the parameters, including the file parameters for diskInfo and diskFile, especially if the disk file name contains spaces!

Success status code: 201 Created