Deploy a Virtual Machine from a VM Template in a Content Library

By using the vSphere Automation APIs, you can deploy a virtual machine from a VM template stored in a content library.

To deploy a virtual machine from a VM template in a content library, call the deploy function of the com.vmware.vcenter.vm_template.LibraryItems interface or use the POST https://<vCenter_Server_IP>/api/vcenter/vm-template/library-items/<VM_Template_Item_ID>?action=deploy HTTP request. You can specify the power state and customize the guest operation system prior to the virtual machine deployment.

For information about the available and mandatory parameters, see the API Reference documentation.

Prerequisites

  • Verify that you have administrative privileges on your vCenter Server instance.
  • Verify that you created a vSphere Automation session to your vCenter Server instance.

Procedure

  1. Review the information stored in the VM template library item.
    You can use the get(VM_template_item_ID) function of the com.vmware.vcenter.vm_template.LibraryItems interface and pass the ID of your VM template item or the GET https://<vCenter_Server_IP>/api/vcenter/vm-template/library-items/<VM_Template_Item_ID> HTTP request. If you did not save the ID of your item, you can select the UUID of your VM template item by using the vSphere Client. The URN ends with the ID of the item and has the following format: urn:vapi:com.vmware.content.library.Item:<VMTemplateItemID>.
  2. Get the ID of the host on which you want to deploy the virtual machine.
    You can use the list function of the com.vmware.vcenter.Host interface or the GET https://<vCenter_Server_IP>/api/vcenter/host HTTP request.
  3. Get the ID of the resource pool to which you want to add your virtual machine.
    You can use the list function of the com.vmware.vcenter.ResourcePool interface or the https://<vCenter_Server_IP>/api/vcenter/resource-pool HTTP request.
  4. Get the ID of the VIRTUAL_MACHINE folder to which you want to add your virtual machine.
    You can use the list function of the com.vmware.vcenter.Folder interface or the GET https://<vCenter_Server_IP>/api/vcenter/folder HTTP request.
  5. Get the ID of the datastore on which you want to store log, configuration, and disk files of the virtual machine.
    You can use the list function of the com.vmware.vcenter.Datastore interface or the GET https://<vCenter_Server_IP>/api/vcenter/datastore HTTP request.
  6. Create a deployment specification.
    You can use the com.vmware.vcenter.vm_template.LibraryItems.DeploySpec class or the body of the POST https://<vCenter_Server_IP>/api/vcenter/vm-template/library-items/<VM_Template_Item_ID>?action=deploy HTTP request.
    1. Specify a name and description of the virtual machine that you want to deploy.
    2. Specify the place in your inventory on which you want to deploy the virtual machine such as an ESXi host, resource pool, and VM folder.
      You can use the com.vmware.vcenter.vm_template.LibraryItems.DeployPlacementSpec class or the placement parameter in the body of the request. You must use the IDs of your inventory objects.
    3. Specify the datastore on which you want to store the log, configuration, and disk files of the virtual machine. You must use the ID of the datastore.
      You can use the DeploySpecVmHomeStorage and DeploySpecDiskStorage classes or the vm_home_storage, and disk_storage parameters in the body of the request.
    4. (Optional) Specify the guest operating system and hardware customization specifications that you want to apply to the virtual machine during the deployment process. Add this information to the deployment specification.
      You can use the GuestCustomizationSpec and HardwareCustomizationSpec classes or the guest_customization and hardware_customization parameters in the body of the request. You can get a list of the guest operating system customization specifications that are available in your vCenter Server by using the list function of the com.vmware.vcenter.guest.CustomizationSpecs interface or the GET https://<vCenter_Server_IP>/api/vcenter/guest/customization-specs HTTP request.
    5. Include the placement and storage specifications in the deployment specification.
  7. Deploy a virtual machine from your VM template.
    You can use the deploy(template_library_item, spec) function of the com.vmware.vcenter.vm_template.LibraryItems interface by passing the library item ID where the VM template is stores and the deployment specification. You can also send the POST https://<vCenter_Server_IP>/api/vcenter/vm-template/library-items/<VM_Template_Item_ID>?action=deploy HTTP request.

Results

If the operation is successful, the ID of the deployed virtual machine is returned. For information about the possible exceptions, see the API Reference documentation.