Introduction

By sending requests to the Virtual Machine endpoint /v2/vm you can list, create, update or delete VMs. The Virtual Machine endpoint has the following methods available:

Resource	URI	Description	GET	POST	PUT	DELETE
Virtual Machine	/vm	Virtual Machine management resource. Read, update, delete, create virtual machines.

OPTIONS HTTP method

Remember, you can also show what methods are allowed and method description, parameters, etc. by making a GET HTTP request to /v2/vm.

http OPTIONS "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/vm"
curl -X OPTIONS "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/vm"

On this page:

Create

Single Virtual Machine

To create a new Virtual Machine, send a POST request to /v2/vm. The attribute values that must be set to successfully create a Virtual Machine are marked with a in the following table:

Attribute	Description	Type	Ref URI	Options	Default	Required
admin_email	Administrator's email	string	-	-	User's email number submitting the request	-
admin_name	Administrator's name	string	-	-	User's name number submitting the request	-
admin_phone	Administrator's phone number	string	-	-	User's phone number submitting the request	-
client	Client Department	string	-	-	-
built_from	Build process. If you are installing OS from scratch use os_install. Clone when deploying a VM from a running or powered off virtual Machine. Template gives the ability to deploy multiple VMs at the same time.	string	-	os_install clone template image contentlib	-
cpu	CPU count and core per sockets: { "count": 4, "cpu_per_socket": 2 } Refer to Setting the number of cores per CPU (https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/1010184) when setting cores per socket.	integer or object	-	-	{"count": 1, "cpu_per_socket": 1}	-
description	Short description of the service or application. This will be part of the annotations field.	string	-	-	-
scsi	SCSI controllers layout. Introduced in v2021.6.0.	array of strings or array of objects	-	-	["paravirtual", "lsilogic"] [ {"type": "lsilogic", "bus": 0}, {"type": "paravirtual", "bus": 1} ]	-
disks	Disks in Gigabytes.	array of strings or array of objects	-	-	[40] [ {"capacity_gb": 40, "backing_mode": "persistent", "backing_sharing": "nosharing", "scsi": 0}, {"capacity_gb": 200, "backing_mode": "persistent", "backing_sharing": "nosharing", "scsi": 1} ]	-
high_io	If set to true,VM will be created with a VMware Paravirtual SCSIController. PVSCSI controllers are best suited for environments, especially SAN environments, running I/O-intensive applications. Deprecated in v2021.6.0.	boolean	-	True False	False	-
domain	Fault domain moId (Managed Object Identifier)	string	/v2/domain	-	Fault Domain	-
folder	Folder moId (Managed Object Identifier)	string	/v2/folder	-	-
inform	Informational comma separated emails or list of email addresses.	string or list of strings	-	-	User's email submitting the request	-
iso	ISO image path to be mounted after creation	string	/v2/iso	-	None	-
memory	Memory in GB	integer	-	-	1	-
name	Human readable name without the VSS Prefix. This prefix will be added before creation.	string	-	-	Randomly generated	-
networks	Network interface controller object. [{"network": "moref-or-name", "type": "valid-type"}] Each network will be attached to a NIC type specified or if not, vmxnet3, the most recent virtual network device from VMware, and was designed from scratch for high performance and to support new features.	array	/v2/network	-	Unaccessible VLAN	-
os	Supported guest operating system identifier.	string	/v2/os	-	-
usage	Virtual Machine usage. Prod for Production, Test for testing, QA for Quality Assurance, and Dev for Development.	string	-	Prod Test QA Dev	Test	-
notes	Client notes to be stored in the annotation field.	string	-	-	-	-
source_vm	Source Virtual Machine Moref or Uuid.	string	/v2/vm	-	-	only with clone
source_vm_snap_id	Clone virtual machine from source snapshot	integer	/v2/vm/<id>/snapshot	-	-	only with clone
source_clib	Source Deployable (VM or OVF) Content Library item name or ID.	string	/v2/contentlib/item			only with contentlib
source_template	Source Virtual Machine Template Moref or UUID.	string	/v2/template	-	-	only with template
source_image	Source OVA/OVF Virtual Machine file stored in VSKEY-STOR	string	/v2/image	-	-	only with image
user_data	Cloud-init user_data to preconfigure the guest os upon first boot. Note: Experimental feature and currently tested with Ubuntu Cloud Images and VMware Photon OS. Only supported on OVA/OVF deployments.	string	-	-	-	-
extra_config	Allows to Set *VMware guestinfo* interface properties which are available to the VM guest operating system via VMware Tools. These properties are stored in the VMX file prefixed with "guestinfo."**.	array of objects	-	-	-	-
custom_spec	Customize a guest operating system to prevent conflicts if virtual machines are identical after deployed. To customize the guest operating system, you must configure the virtual machine and guest to meet VMware Tools and virtual disk requirements.	dict	-	-	-	recommended with clone and template deployment

power_on	Power on virtual machine after successful deployment	boolean	-	False	-	-
template	Convert virtual machine to template once deployed.	boolean	-	False	-	-
ha_group	Create high availability group metadata (based on morefs)	array or string	/v2/vm	-	-	-
vss_options	Sets available VSS Options to virtual machine metadata.	array or string	/v2/vss/options	-	-	-
vss_service	Tags Virtual Machine with a specific predefined service.	string	/v2/vss/service	-	-	only for ITS users
retirement	Create a Retirement request for the virtual machine. The retirement request allows to set a retirement date for a virtual machine. There are currently two types: timedelta: days, months and hours from now until retirement. datetime: specific timestamp to retire vm. Timedelta { "value": {"type": "timedelta", "days": 4, "months": 6, "hours": 0}, "warning": {"days": 15} } Datetime { "value": {"type": "datetime", "datetime": "2021-10-20 10:00"}, "warning": {"days": 15} } warning is optional but if not set, no notification will be sent to confirm or cancel retirement.	object	-	-	-	-

A new virtual machine can be created with as few as the following attributes in JSON format:

Request Body

{"usage": "Prod",
 "os": "ubuntu64Guest",
 "built_from": "os_install",
 "client": "EIS",
 "description": "Java web application.",
 "folder": "group-v4122",
 "networks": [{"network": "dvportgroup-95", "type": "e1000"}, {"network": "dvportgroup-92"}],
 "disks": [40, 100],
 "power_on": true
}

HTTPie

http POST "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/vm" "Authorization: Bearer $TK" usage='Prod' os='ubuntu64Guest' built_from='os_install' client='EIS' description='Java web application.' folder='group-v4122' networks:='[{"network": "dvportgroup-95", "type": "e1000"}, {"network": "dvportgroup-92"}]' disks:='[40, 20]' power_on:=true

CURL

curl -H "Content-Type: application/json" -H "Authorization: Bearer $TK" -X POST "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/vm" -d '{"usage": "Prod", "os": "ubuntu64Guest", "built_from": "os_install", "client": "EIS", "description": "Java web application.", "folder": "group-v4122", "networks": [{"network": "dvportgroup-95", "type": "e1000"}, {"network": "dvportgroup-92"}], "disks": [40, 100], "power_on": true}'

If the request was successfully submitted and all parameters were accepted, the following Response Status, Headers and body will be received:

Response Headers

HTTP/1.0 202 ACCEPTED
Allow: HEAD, POST, OPTIONS, GET
Content-Length: 364
Content-Type: application/json
Date: Tue, 26 Apr 2016 18:24:23 GMT
Location: https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/request/task/fa276e28-a876-477a-ab40-0d2d84df9234
X-RateLimit-Limit: 7200
X-RateLimit-Remaining: 7190
X-RateLimit-Reset: 1461697200

Response Body

{
   "data": {
    "_links": {
        "request": "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/request/new/8",
        "task": "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/request/task/fa276e28-a876-477a-ab40-0d2d84df9234"
    },
    "message": "Request has been accepted for processing",
    "name": "Accepted",
    "request": {
        "id": 8,
        "status": "Submitted",
        "task_id": "fa276e28-a876-477a-ab40-0d2d84df9234"
    },
    "status": 202
    }
}

Note that you will receive as well additional Hypermedia links contained in the _links attribute. Request object is the new virtual machine creation request which stores all parameters previously submitted and Task, is the unique task in charged of processing your request. Request and Task are both related, in terms of status, errors and warnings. Request will store any status or errors caught by the task, also it will pass the recently created VM Uuid.

Task

Request processing is almost instantaneous, however you could check the task progress by making a HTTP GET request to any given /v2/request/task/<task_id> endpoint.

Response Body

 {
    "_links": {
        "request": "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/request", 
        "self": "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/request/task/a57a3d4a-9e94-4822-a1d3-f99db1005dbd"
    }, 
    "data": {
        "result": {
            "current": 100, 
            "result": {
                "errors": [], 
                "warnings": [
                    "Fault Domain: FD3 ", 
                    "Created in: VSS > Sandbox > jm", 
                    "Network adapter 1: 00:50:56:92:50:6d: VL-1102-UTCS", 
                    "Network adapter 2: 00:50:56:92:3f:91: VL-1072-VSGAN"
                ]
            }, 
            "status": "1604P-desperate_thompson Processed", 
            "total": 100
        }, 
        "status": "SUCCESS"
    }, 
    "meta": {
        "count": 2, 
        "time": "0.00028s", 
        "user": "jm"
    }
}

Request

Checking the overall status of the request and also the resulting Uuid can be done by making a HTTP GET request to /v2/request/new/8 endpoint:

Response Body

{
    "_link": {
        "request": "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/request/new",
        "self": "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/request/new/180"
    },
    "data": {
        "_links": {
            "task": "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/request/task/6f642f4b-6be1-4fba-aabd-eab7f6366912",
            "user_data": "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/request/new/180/user_data",
            "vm": "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/vm/501219a5-a563-787c-f334-e7b65e829dca"
        },
        "annotation": [
            "VM Name: 1608T-sw-node2",
            "UTvssAdmin: Jose Manuel Lopez Lujan:416-577-7061:jm.lopez@utoronto.ca",
            "UTvssClient: EIS",
            "UTvssPurpose: Testing",
            "UTvssRequested: 2016-08-26 15:03:50 ",
            "UTvssInform: jm.lopez@utoronto.ca",
            "Description: deploying the new docker swarm cluster",
            ""
        ],
        "built_from": "image",
        "cpu": "1",
        "created_on": "2016-08-26 15:03:50 EDT",
        "disks": [
            10,
            40,
            40,
            40
        ],
        "domain": "domain-c5877",
        "dvd_cd": "",
        "folder": "group-v7505",
        "guest_os": "ubuntu64Guest",
        "id": 180,
        "memory": "1",
        "message": {
            "errors": [],
            "warnings": null
        },
        "networks": [
                 {"network": "dvportgroup-95", "type": "e1000"}, 
                 {"network": "dvportgroup-92", "type": "vmxnet3"}
        ],
        "source_image": "images/wily-server-cloudimg-amd64.ova",
        "status": "Processed",
        "task_id": "6f642f4b-6be1-4fba-aabd-eab7f6366912",
        "updated_on": "2016-08-26 15:04:42 EDT",
        "user": {
            "_links": {
                "self": "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/user"
            },
            "username": "josem"
        },
        "vm_name": "1608T-sw-node2",
        "vm_uuid": "501219a5-a563-787c-f334-e7b65e829dca",
        "workdir": "/data/imports/5279a6a4-87bc-4d5d-89a6-8458912d1b53"
    },
    "meta": {
        "count": 23,
        "time": "0.00968s",
        "user": "josem"
    }
}

Multiple Virtual Machines

To create multiple Virtual Machines, send a POST request to /v2/vm. Creating multiple VMs is quite similar to creating a single VM, but instead of sending name as a string, send names as an array and select the right built process, either clone or template. The following request body is used to deploy three VM from a VM template:

Request Body

{"": "EIS",
 "built_from": "template",
 "description": "Ubuntu cluster",
 "os": "ubuntu64Guest",
 "folder": "group-v4122",
 "source_template": "50123c4c-c810-5c0f-6203-eac67f0cb7e8",
 "names": ["Ubuntu1", 
           "Ubuntu2", 
           "Ubuntu3"],
 "networks": [
                 {"network": "dvportgroup-95", "type": "e1000"}, 
                 {"network": "dvportgroup-92", "type": "vmxnet3"}
        ],
 "disks": [40, 100]}

The main difference between selecting clone or template as built process is that a source VM Template can deploy multiple instances concurrently, whereas a VM Clone can only be deployed concurrently when the source Virtual Machine is powered off. If VM is powered On, it can only be cloned one at a time.

HTTPie

http POST "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/vm" "Authorization: Bearer $TK" os='ubuntu64Guest' built_from='template' client='EIS' description='Ubuntu cluster' folder='group-v4122' networks:='[{"network": "dvportgroup-95", "type": "e1000"}, {"network": "dvportgroup-92"}]' disks:='[40, 100]' names:='["Ubuntu1", "Ubuntu2", "Ubuntu3"]' source_template=50123c4c-c810-5c0f-6203-eac67f0cb7e8

CURL

curl -H "Content-Type: application/json" -H "Authorization: Bearer $TK" -X POST "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/vm" -d '{"client": "EIS", "built_from": "template", "description": "Ubuntu cluster", "os": "ubuntu64Guest", "folder": "group-v4122", "source_template": "50123c4c-c810-5c0f-6203-eac67f0cb7e8", "names": ["Ubuntu1", "Ubuntu2", "Ubuntu3"], "networks": [{"network": "dvportgroup-95", "type": "e1000"}, {"network": "dvportgroup-92"}], "disks": [40, 100]}'

If the request was successfully submitted and all parameters were accepted, the following Response Status, Headers and body will be received:

Response Headers

HTTP/1.0 202 ACCEPTED
Allow: HEAD, POST, OPTIONS, GET
Content-Length: 682
Content-Type: application/json
Date: Wed, 27 Apr 2016 14:16:42 GMT
X-RateLimit-Limit: 7200
X-RateLimit-Remaining: 7191
X-RateLimit-Reset: 1461769200

Response Body

{
    "data": {
        "_links": {
            "requests": [
                "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/request/new/26", 
                "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/request/new/27", 
                "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/request/new/28"
            ], 
            "tasks": [
                "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/request/task/aa1cc5fa-94fc-473f-b29c-47f022745eb2", 
                "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/request/task/97d1f968-dec5-4249-b23c-226b46258483", 
                "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/request/task/0ec62b83-6c7f-47ae-8670-588449c3a2cb"
            ]
        }, 
        "message": "New VM Requests have been accepted for processing", 
        "name": "Accepted", 
        "status": 202
    }, 
    "meta": {
        "time": "0.10215s", 
        "user": "jm"
    }
}

The main difference between single and multiple vm creation/deployment is the number of requests and tasks returned by the API. In this case, since we required three VMs, we get the same number of requests and tasks as a result of the POST request, which can be queried individually to verify its progress or result.

Task

Request processing is almost instantaneous, however you could check the task progress by making a HTTP GET request to any given /v2/request/task/<task_id> endpoint.

Response Body

 {
    "_links": {
        "request": "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/request/", 
        "self": "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/request/task/aa1cc5fa-94fc-473f-b29c-47f022745eb2"
    }, 
    "data": {
        "result": {
            "current": 100, 
            "result": {
                "errors": [], 
                "warnings": [
                    "Hard disk 1 capacity is the same. No change need to be done.", 
                    "Fault Domain: FD3 ", 
                    "Created in: VSS > Sandbox > jm", 
                    "Network adapter 1: 00:50:56:92:08:08: VL-1102-UTCS", 
                    "Network adapter 2: 00:50:56:92:14:fe: VL-1072-VSGAN"
                ]
            }, 
            "status": "1604T-Ubuntu1 Processed", 
            "total": 100
        }, 
        "status": "SUCCESS"
    }, 
    "meta": {
        "count": 2, 
        "time": "0.00597s", 
        "user": "jm"
    }
}

Requests

Checking the overall status of the requests and also the resulting Uuid can be done by making a HTTP GET request to /v2/request/new/26 - 28 endpoint:

Response Body

{
    "_link": {
        "request": "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/request/new", 
        "self": "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/request/new/26"
    }, 
    "data": {
        "_links": {
            "task": "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/request/task/aa1cc5fa-94fc-473f-b29c-47f022745eb2", 
            "vm": "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/vm/5012826a-6a1a-815a-249d-7d6eb640f020"
        }, 
        "annotation": [
            "VM Name: 1604T-Ubuntu1", 
            "UTvssAdmin: JM Lopez Lujan:416-123-1234:jm.lopez@utoronto.ca", 
            "UTvssClient: EIS", 
            "UTvssPurpose: Test", 
            "UTvssRequested: 2016-04-27 10:16:42 ", 
            "UTvssInform: jm.lopez@utoronto.ca", 
            "Description: Ubuntu cluster", 
            ""
        ], 
        "built_from": "template", 
        "cpu": "1", 
        "created_on": "2016-04-27 10:16:42 EDT", 
        "disks": [
            40, 
            100
        ], 
        "domain": "domain-c5877", 
        "dvd_cd": "", 
        "folder": "group-v4122", 
        "guest_os": "ubuntu64Guest", 
        "id": 26, 
        "memory": "1", 
        "message": {
            "errors": [], 
            "warnings": [
                "Hard disk 1 capacity is the same. No change need to be done.", 
                "Fault Domain: FD3 ", 
                "Created in: VSS > Sandbox > jm", 
                "Network adapter 1: 00:50:56:92:08:08: VL-1102-UTCS", 
                "Network adapter 2: 00:50:56:92:14:fe: VL-1072-VSGAN"
            ]
        }, 
        "networks": [
            "dvportgroup-95", 
            "dvportgroup-92"
        ], 
        "source_template": "50123c4c-c810-5c0f-6203-eac67f0cb7e8", 
        "source_vm": null, 
        "status": "Processed", 
        "task_id": "aa1cc5fa-94fc-473f-b29c-47f022745eb2", 
        "updated_on": "2016-04-27 10:26:00 EDT", 
        "user": {
            "_links": {
                "self": "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/user"
            }, 
            "id": 1, 
            "username": "jm"
        }, 
        "vm_name": "1604T-Ubuntu1", 
        "vm_uuid": "5012826a-6a1a-815a-249d-7d6eb640f020"
    }, 
    "meta": {
        "count": 23, 
        "time": "0.00541s", 
        "user": "jm"
    }
}

List

Virtual machines

In order to list all your Virtual Machines you should make a HTTP GET request to the endpoint /v2/vm:

The following examples use HTTPie and CURL to request ALL Virtual Machine managed by given user without filters:

http GET "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/vm" "Authorization: Bearer $TK"
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $TK" -X GET "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/vm"

HTTP response data would look something like:

Response

{
    "_links": {
        "self": "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/vm?short=1&per_page=5"
    },
    "data": [
        {
            "hostName": "HOTH",
            "ipAddress": "",
            "moref": "vm-4210",
            "name": "1409P-hoth",
            "powerState": "poweredOff",
            "uuid": "50127974-aa4a-c215-f9f0-e1ab8a4ef050"
        },
        {
            "hostName": "glog-app01.eis.utoronto.ca",
            "ipAddress": "192.168.2.222",
            "moref": "vm-12178",
            "name": "1803D-graylog-app-0",
            "powerState": "poweredOn",
            "uuid": "5012f72a-f9c7-366f-5cf0-e1ac6afe4466"
        },
        {
            "hostName": "glog-app02.eis.utoronto.ca",
            "ipAddress": "192.168.2.122",
            "moref": "vm-12075",
            "name": "1803D-graylog-es1",
            "powerState": "poweredOn",
            "uuid": "50129e9f-38c5-ba9a-14d1-a1023fbc3aeb"
        },
        {
            "hostName": "gpu-dh-108",
            "ipAddress": "192.168.1.155",
            "moref": "vm-15854",
            "name": "1811D-ubuntu",
            "powerState": "poweredOn",
            "uuid": "501257e0-81f5-9c2a-84e5-e900212fef76"
        },
        {
            "hostName": "ubuntu",
            "ipAddress": "",
            "moref": "vm-13053",
            "name": "1807P-Ubuntu-18.04-server-tmpl",
            "powerState": "poweredOff",
            "uuid": "50120242-3ea3-d7ba-b6a5-14ffa8565b65"
        }
    ],
    "meta": {
        "count": 5,
        "pages": {
            "first_url": "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/vm?per_page=5&page=1&expand=True",
            "last_url": "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/vm?per_page=5&page=5&expand=True",
            "next_url": "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/vm?per_page=5&page=2&expand=True",
            "page": 1,
            "pages": 5,
            "per_page": 5,
            "prev_url": null,
            "total": 25
        },
        "time": "0.03134s",
        "user": "jm"
    }
}

Included attributes are described in the following table:

Name	Type	Description
uuid	string	128-bit UUID of a virtual machine, represented as a hexademical string. This identifier is used by VirtualCenter to uniquely identify all virtual machine instances, including those that may share the same SMBIOS UUID.
moref	string	Managed object reference of the vm
name	string	Virtual Machine name including VSS prefix.
guest_full_name	string	The full name of the guest operating system for the virtual machine. For example: Windows 2000 Professional.
guest_id	string	The guest operating system identifier.
ip_address	string	Primary IP address assigned to the guest operating system, if known.
hostname	string	Guest hostname. Provided only when VMware Tools is running.
memoryGB	integer	Memory size of the virtual machine, in Gigabytes.
cpu_count	integer	Number of processors in the virtual machine.
overall_status	string	VM general "health" value: gray: The status is unknown. green: The entity is OK. red: The entity definitely has a problem. yellow: The entity might have a problem.
power_state	string	The current power state of the virtual machine. The state could be: poweredOff or poweredOn
provisioned_gb	integer	Sum of Committed and Uncommitted storage.
folder	object	Folder object which contains current VM
folder_moref	string	Folder managed object reference
tools_running_status	string	VMware Tools running status.
tools_version	string	VMware Tools version.
tools_version_status	string	VMware Tools version status.
version	string	Virtual hardware version.

Paging

All requests to the /vm URL are paginated. The response body includes a 'meta.pages' key with everything to navigate through the results, for instance:

Key	Description
first_url	Contain the URLs to navigate through results.
last_url
prev_url
next_url
page	Current page
pages	Total number of pages
per_page	Results per page. Maximum 250; Default 10.
total	Total number of results

Results per page can be set by including the parameter in the URL query, so we can get the desired number of elements per page, for example:

http GET "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/vm?per_page=200" "Authorization: Bearer $TK"
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $TK" -X GET "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/vm?per_page=1500"

Sorting

The resource provides also attribute sorting by adding the sort parameter in the URL query string in the following format:

sort=<field_name>,<asc|desc>

For example:

http GET "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/vm?sort=name,desc" "Authorization: Bearer $TK"
http GET "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/vm?sort=uuid,asc" "Authorization: Bearer $TK"

Filtering

Virtual Machines can be filtered by adding the filter argument to the query string in the following format:

filter=<field_name>,<operator>,<value>

Operators can be:

Operator	Description
eq	Equals
ne	Not equal
lt	Lower than
le	Lower equal
gt	Greater than
ge	Greater equal
like	Matching pattern
in	Match value in many items separated by commas

Filter Virtual Machine resource by any of the following

Attribute	Filter
name	name
ipAddress	ip_address
hostname	hostname
powerState	power_state
cpuCount	cpu_count
overallStatus	overall_status
toolsVersion	tools_version
toolsVersionStatus	tools_version_status
version	version

The following examples show how to implement a GET request with the first three parameters shown below. The result is similar to the previous section.

http GET "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/vm?filter=name,like,%Test%" "Authorization: Bearer $TK"
http GET "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/vm?filter=ip_address,eq,10.2.1.2" "Authorization: Bearer $TK"
http GET "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/vm?filter=hostname,like,wiki.eis.utoronto.ca" "Authorization: Bearer $TK"

Filtering by name can be done as follows:

http GET "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/vm?filter=name,like,%Test%" "Authorization: Bearer $TK"

HTTP response data would look something like:

HTTP Response

{
    "_links": {
        "api": "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/", 
        "self": "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/vm"
    }, 
    "data": [
        {
            "_links": {
                "self": "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/vm/5012bd15-c20c-a971-aa68-af1a3cf3d0db"
            }, 
            "name": "1604Q-VMTest_1", 
            "uuid": "5012bd15-c20c-a971-aa68-af1a3cf3d0db"
        }
    ], 
    "meta": {
        "count": 1, 
        "time": "1.86220s", 
        "user": "jm"
    }
}

From now on, you will need the UUID of any virtual machine, provided by the either the uuid attribute or in the "_links" section, to get further information and eventually to modify its configuration.

Specific virtual machine info

Some of the attributes will have an object value. Such is the case of guest, hardware, network, config and vss.

Name	Type	Description
uuid	string	VirtualCenter-specific 128-bit UUID of a virtual machine, represented as a hexademical string. This identifier is used by VirtualCenter to uniquely identify all virtual machine instances, including those that may share the same SMBIOS UUID.
name	string	Virtual Machine name including VSS prefix.
Config	VM Configuration
boot.delay_ms	integer	Delay in milliseconds before starting the boot sequence. The boot delay specifies a time interval between virtual machine power on or restart and the beginning of the boot sequence.
os.guest_id	string	Operating system configured in the virtual machine
Folder	Logical Folder
name	string	Immediate folder holding VM
parent	string	Parent folder holding the VM
path	string	Full path to immediate folder
moref	string	Managed object reference to parent folder
Guest	Guest status and configuration
guest_full_name	string	This is the full name of the guest operating system for the virtual machine. For example: Windows 2000 Professional.
guest_id	string	Guest operating system configured on a virtual machine.
hostname	string	Hostname of the guest operating system, if known.
ip_address	string	List of IP address assigned to the guest operating system, if known.
tools_status	string	Current running status of VMware Tools in the guest operating system, if known.
Note	Virtual Machine Metadata
note	string	Virtual Machine full annotation
client	string	Client notes
Name
full_name	string	VM full name including VSS prefix.
Hardware	Virtual Machine Hardware configuration
cpu_count	integer	Number of processors in the virtual machine.
cores_per_socket	integer	Number of cores used to distribute virtual CPUs among sockets in this virtual machine. If the value is unset it implies to numCoresPerSocket = 1.
memory_mb	integer	Memory size of the virtual machine, in megabytes.
devices	string	List of strings holding controllers, cd/dvd, disks and nics configured in the VM
version	string	The version string for this virtual machine.
Storage	Storage summary
provisioned_gb	integer	Sum of Committed and Uncommitted storage.
uncommitted_gb	integer	Additional storage space, in bytes, potentially used by this virtual machine on all datastores.
committed_gb	integer	Total storage space, in bytes, committed to this virtual machine across all datastores.
unshared_gb	integer	Total storage space, in bytes, occupied by the virtual machine across all datastores, that is not shared with any other virtual machine.
State	Runtime status related attributes
overall_status	string	VM general "health" value: gray: The status is unknown. green: The entity is OK. red: The entity definitely has a problem. yellow: The entity might have a problem.
power_state	string	The current power state of the virtual machine.
alarms	boolean	Whether the VM has triggered alarms.
Snapshot	Virtual Machine Snapshot information
exist	boolean	Whether the current virtual machine has Snapshots
VSS	VSS Metadata
admin	string	Admin responsible of this VM.
client	string	Custom client key-value notes.

The following example, requests information about a particular VM using its base resource /v2/vm and appending the UUID to get the URI /vm/5012bd15-c20c-a971-aa68-af1a3cf3d0db/.

http GET "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/vm/5012bd15-c20c-a971-aa68-af1a3cf3d0db" "Authorization: Bearer $TK"

HTTP response data would look something like:

Response

  {
    "config": {
      "boot": {
        "_links": {
          "self": "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/vm/5012bd15-c20c-a971-aa68-af1a3cf3d0db/boot"
        },
        "delay_ms": 5000
      },
      "os": {
        "_links": {
          "self": "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/vm/5012bd15-c20c-a971-aa68-af1a3cf3d0db/os"
        },
        "guest_id": "centos7_64Guest"
      },
      "template": {
        "_links": {
          "self": "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/vm/5012bd15-c20c-a971-aa68-af1a3cf3d0db/template"
        },
        "is_template": false
      }
    },
    "folder": {
      "_links": {
        "self": "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/folder-vc/group-v759"
      },
      "moref": "group-v759",
      "name": "Dev",
      "parent": "Public",
      "path": "Public > Dev"
    },
    "guest": {
      "_links": {
        "self": "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/vm/5012bd15-c20c-a971-aa68-af1a3cf3d0db/guest"
      },
      "guest_full_name": "CentOS 6 (64-bit)",
      "guest_id": "centos6_64Guest",
      "hostname": "pi-lab.dcb.eis.utoronto.ca",
      "ip_address": [
        "fe80::1b5b:c11b:dbff:37b8",
        "128.100.111.0",
        "fe80::250:56ff:feb0:3be0"
      ],
      "tools_running_status": "guestToolsRunning",
      "tools_status": "guestToolsUnmanaged",
      "tools_version": "10309"
    },
    "hardware": {
      "cpu": {
        "_links": {
          "self": "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/vm/5012bd15-c20c-a971-aa68-af1a3cf3d0db/cpu"
        },
        "cpu_count": 1
      },
      "devices": {
        "cds": [
          {
            "_links": {
              "self": "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/vm/5012bd15-c20c-a971-aa68-af1a3cf3d0db/cd/1"
            },
            "backing": "client",
            "unit": 1
          }
        ],
        "disks": [
          {
            "_links": {
              "self": "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/vm/5012bd15-c20c-a971-aa68-af1a3cf3d0db/disk/1"
            },
            "capacity_gb": 8.0,
            "unit": 1
          },
          {
            "_links": {
              "self": "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/vm/5012bd15-c20c-a971-aa68-af1a3cf3d0db/disk/2"
            },
            "capacity_gb": 1.0,
            "unit": 2
          },
          {
            "_links": {
              "self": "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/vm/5012bd15-c20c-a971-aa68-af1a3cf3d0db/disk/3"
            },
            "capacity_gb": 1.0,
            "unit": 3
          }
        ],
        "floppies": [
          {
            "_links": {
              "self": "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/vm/5012bd15-c20c-a971-aa68-af1a3cf3d0db/floppy/1"
            },
            "backing": "client",
            "unit": 1
          }
        ],
        "nics": [
          {
            "_links": {
              "self": "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/vm/5012bd15-c20c-a971-aa68-af1a3cf3d0db/nic/1"
            },
            "connected": true,
            "mac_address": "00:50:56:b0:3b:e0",
            "network": {
              "_links": {
                "self": "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/network-vc/dvportgroup-1094"
              },
              "moref": "dvportgroup-1094"
            },
            "type": "vmxnet3",
            "unit": 1
          },
          {
            "_links": {
              "self": "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/vm/5012bd15-c20c-a971-aa68-af1a3cf3d0db/nic/2"
            },
            "connected": true,
            "mac_address": "00:50:56:b0:3f:4c",
            "network": {
              "_links": {
                "self": "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/network-vc/dvportgroup-1083"
              },
              "moref": "dvportgroup-1083"
            },
            "type": "vmxnet3",
            "unit": 2
          }
        ]
      },
      "memory": {
        "_links": {
          "self": "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/vm/5012bd15-c20c-a971-aa68-af1a3cf3d0db/memory"
        },
        "memory_gb": 1.0
      },
      "version": "vmx-13"
    },
    "name": {
      "_links": {
        "self": "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/vm/5012bd15-c20c-a971-aa68-af1a3cf3d0db/name"
      },
      "full_name": "1904T-Pi-Lab"
    },
    "note": {
      "client": {
        "_links": {
          "self": "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/vm/5012bd15-c20c-a971-aa68-af1a3cf3d0db/note/client"
        },
        "value": ""
      },
      "note": {
        "_links": {
          "self": "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/vm/5012bd15-c20c-a971-aa68-af1a3cf3d0db/note"
        }
      }
    },
    "permission": {
      "_links": {
        "self": "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/vm/5012bd15-c20c-a971-aa68-af1a3cf3d0db/permission"
      }
    },
    "snapshot": {
      "_links": {
        "self": "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/vm/5012bd15-c20c-a971-aa68-af1a3cf3d0db/snapshot"
      },
      "exist": true,
      "requireDiskConsolidation": false
    },
    "state": {
      "_links": {
        "alarm": "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/vm/5012bd15-c20c-a971-aa68-af1a3cf3d0db/alarm",
        "event": "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/vm/5012bd15-c20c-a971-aa68-af1a3cf3d0db/event",
        "self": "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/vm/5012bd15-c20c-a971-aa68-af1a3cf3d0db/state"
      },
      "alarms": false,
      "domain": {
        "_links": {
          "self": "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/vm/5012bd15-c20c-a971-aa68-af1a3cf3d0db/domain"
        },
        "moref": "domain-c63",
        "name": "Cluster1"
      },
      "overall_status": "green",
      "power_state": "poweredOn"
    },
    "storage": {
      "committed_gb": 5.65,
      "provisioned_gb": 15.65,
      "uncommitted_gb": 10.0,
      "unshared_gb": 5.53
    },
    "uuid": "5012bd15-c20c-a971-aa68-af1a3cf3d0db",
    "vss": {
      "_links": {
        "self": "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/vm/5012bd15-c20c-a971-aa68-af1a3cf3d0db/vss"
      },
      "admin": "JM Lopez L:416-577-7062:jm.lopez utoronto.ca",
      "client": "EIS2",
      "description": "This is a test VM",
      "inform": [
        "jm.lopez utoronto.ca"
      ],
      "options": [
        "reset_on_restore",
        "reboot_on_restore"
      ],
      "service": {
        "description": "Not Applicable",
        "id": 112,
        "name": "N/A",
        "service_group_id": 15
      },
      "usage": "Test"
    }
  }

Delete

Single Virtual Machine

To delete an existent Virtual Machine, send a DELETE request to /v2/vm/<vm_uuid> and a change request to decommission requested VM will be submitted.

HTTPie

http DELETE "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/vm/50125d11-a8d6-2af7-c01e-dc6f6be0e607" "Authorization: Bearer $TK"

CURL

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $TK" $TK -X DELETE "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/vm/50125d11-a8d6-2af7-c01e-dc6f6be0e607"

If the request was successfully submitted, the following Response Status, Headers and body will be received:

Response Headers

HTTP/1.0 202 ACCEPTED
Allow: HEAD, DELETE, OPTIONS, GET
Content-Length: 398
Content-Type: application/json
Date: Thu, 28 Apr 2016 15:32:55 GMT
Location: https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/request/task/7e8e4a7c-7c09-42d2-86e1-41ff5ea530c6
X-RateLimit-Limit: 7200
X-RateLimit-Remaining: 7195
X-RateLimit-Reset: 1461859200

Response Body

{
   "data": {
        "_links": {
            "request": "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/request/change/12", 
            "task": "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/request/task/7e8e4a7c-7c09-42d2-86e1-41ff5ea530c6"
        }, 
    	"message": "Request has been accepted for processing",
    	"name": "Accepted",
    	"request": {
    	    "id": 12,
    	    "status": "Submitted",
    	    "task_id": "7e8e4a7c-7c09-42d2-86e1-41ff5ea530c6"
    	},
    	"status": 202
    }
}

Task

Request processing is almost instantaneous, however you could check the task progress by making a HTTP GET request to any given /v2/request/task/<task_id> endpoint.

Response Body

{
    "_links": {
        "request": "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/request/", 
        "self": "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/request/task/7e8e4a7c-7c09-42d2-86e1-41ff5ea530c6"
    }, 
    "data": {
        "result": {
            "current": 100, 
            "result": {
                "errors": [], 
                "warnings": [
                    "Virtual Machine 1604T-Ubuntu3 has been deleted."
                ]
            }, 
            "status": "1604T-Ubuntu3 Processed", 
            "total": 100
        }, 
        "status": "SUCCESS"
    }, 
    "meta": {
        "count": 2, 
        "time": "0.00865s", 
        "user": "jm"
    }
}

Requests

Checking the overall status of the requests and also its result can be done by making a HTTP GET request to /v2/request/change/26 - 28 endpoint:

Response Body

{
    "_link": {
        "request": "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/request/change", 
        "self": "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/request/change/12"
    }, 
    "data": {
        "_links": {
            "task": "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/request/task/7e8e4a7c-7c09-42d2-86e1-41ff5ea530c6", 
            "vm": "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/vm/50125d11-a8d6-2af7-c01e-dc6f6be0e607"
        }, 
        "attribute": "state", 
        "created_on": "2016-04-28 11:32:55 EDT", 
        "id": 12, 
        "message": {
            "errors": [], 
            "warnings": [
                "Virtual Machine 1604T-Ubuntu3 has been deleted."
            ]
        }, 
        "status": "Processed", 
        "task_id": "7e8e4a7c-7c09-42d2-86e1-41ff5ea530c6", 
        "updated_on": "2016-04-28 11:32:56 EDT", 
        "user": {
            "_links": {
                "self": "https://vss-api.eis.utoronto.ca/v2/user"
            }, 
            "id": 1, 
            "username": "jm"
        }, 
        "user_id": 1, 
        "value": {
            "state": "delete"
        }, 
        "vm_name": "1604T-Ubuntu3", 
        "vm_uuid": "50125d11-a8d6-2af7-c01e-dc6f6be0e607"
    }, 
    "meta": {
        "count": 13, 
        "time": "0.00572s", 
        "user": "jm"
    }
}

Browser not supported