This API has a deprecated equivalent from v7.0U1.
Instant Clone VM
Create an instant clone of an existing virtual machine. if you do not have all of the privileges described as follows: - The resource VirtualMachine referenced by the attribute VM.InstantCloneSpec.source requires VirtualMachine.Provisioning.Clone and VirtualMachine.Inventory.CreateFromExisting. - The resource Folder referenced by the attribute VM.InstantClonePlacementSpec.folder requires VirtualMachine.Interact.PowerOn. - The resource ResourcePool referenced by the attribute VM.InstantClonePlacementSpec.resource-pool requires Resource.AssignVMToPool. - The resource Datastore referenced by the attribute VM.InstantClonePlacementSpec.datastore requires Datastore.AllocateSpace. - The resource Network referenced by the attribute Ethernet.BackingSpec.network requires Network.Assign.
Request
URLURL
https://{api_host}/api/vcenter/vm?action=instant-clone
Header Parameters
Header Parameters
string
vmware-api-session-id
Required
Required session ID, acquired from Create Session API under CIS product
vmware-api-session-id example
"b00db39f948d13ea1e59b4d6fce56389"
Request Body
Request Body
{
"name": "string",
"source": "string"
}
string
source
Required
Virtual machine to InstantClone from. When clients pass a value of this structure as a parameter, the field must be an identifier for the resource type: VirtualMachine. When operations return a value of this structure as a result, the field will be an identifier for the resource type: VirtualMachine.
string
name
Required
Name of the new virtual machine.
string
bios_uuid
Optional
128-bit SMBIOS UUID of a virtual machine represented as a hexadecimal string in “12345678-abcd-1234-cdef-123456789abc” format. If unset, will be generated.
map of
VmHardwareEthernetUpdateSpec
nics_to_update
Optional
Map of NICs to update. If unset, no NICs will be updated. When clients pass a value of this structure as a parameter, the key in the field map must be an identifier for the resource type: com.vmware.vcenter.vm.hardware.Ethernet. When operations return a value of this structure as a result, the key in the field map will be an identifier for the resource type: com.vmware.vcenter.vm.hardware.Ethernet.
map of
VmHardwareParallelUpdateSpec
parallel_ports_to_update
Optional
Map of parallel ports to Update. If unset, no parallel ports will be updated. When clients pass a value of this structure as a parameter, the key in the field map must be an identifier for the resource type: com.vmware.vcenter.vm.hardware.ParallelPort. When operations return a value of this structure as a result, the key in the field map will be an identifier for the resource type: com.vmware.vcenter.vm.hardware.ParallelPort.
placement
Optional
Virtual machine placement information. If this field is unset, the system will use the values from the source virtual machine. If specified, each field will be used for placement. If the fields result in disjoint placement the operation will fail. If the fields along with the placement values of the source virtual machine result in disjoint placement the operation will fail.
map of
VmHardwareSerialUpdateSpec
serial_ports_to_update
Optional
Map of serial ports to Update. If unset, no serial ports will be updated. When clients pass a value of this structure as a parameter, the key in the field map must be an identifier for the resource type: com.vmware.vcenter.vm.hardware.SerialPort. When operations return a value of this structure as a result, the key in the field map will be an identifier for the resource type: com.vmware.vcenter.vm.hardware.SerialPort.
boolean
disconnect_all_nics
Optional
Indicates whether all NICs on the destination virtual machine should be disconnected from the newtwork If unset, connection status of all NICs on the destination virtual machine will be the same as on the source virtual machine.
Authentication
This operation uses the following authentication methods.
Response
Response
Response BodyResponse Body
200 OK returns
string
of type application/json
ID of newly-created virtual machine. The result will be an identifier for the resource type: VirtualMachine.
Errors
400
com.vmware.vapi.std.errors.already_exists : if a virtual machine with the specified name already exists. | com.vmware.vapi.std.errors.invalid_argument : if any of the specified parameters are invalid.
403
com.vmware.vapi.std.errors.unauthorized : if the user doesn’t have the required privileges.
404
com.vmware.vapi.std.errors.not_found : if any of the resources specified in spec could not be found
500
com.vmware.vapi.std.errors.error : if the system reports an error while responding to the request. | com.vmware.vapi.std.errors.resource_inaccessible : if a specified resource (eg. host) is not accessible. | com.vmware.vapi.std.errors.unable_to_allocate_resource : if any of the resources needed to create an instant clone could not be allocated.
503
com.vmware.vapi.std.errors.service_unavailable : if the system is unable to communicate with a service to complete the request.
default
‘Default’ means this response is used for all HTTP codes that are not covered individually for this operation.
Code Samples
PowerCLI Client SDK Example
$VMInstantCloneSpec = Initialize-VMInstantCloneSpec -Source "MySource" -Name "MyName"
Invoke-InstantCloneVm -VMInstantCloneSpec $VMInstantCloneSpec
PowerCLI Client SDK All Parameters Example
$VMInstantClonePlacementSpec = Initialize-VMInstantClonePlacementSpec -Folder "MyFolder" -ResourcePool "MyResourcePool" -Datastore "MyDatastore"
$VmHardwareEthernetBackingSpec = Initialize-VmHardwareEthernetBackingSpec -Type "STANDARD_PORTGROUP" -Network "MyNetwork" -DistributedPort "MyDistributedPort"
$VmHardwareEthernetUpdateSpec = Initialize-VmHardwareEthernetUpdateSpec -UptCompatibilityEnabled $false -MacType "MANUAL" -MacAddress "MyMacAddress" -WakeOnLanEnabled $false -Backing $VmHardwareEthernetBackingSpec -StartConnected $false -AllowGuestControl $false
$VmHardwareParallelBackingSpec = Initialize-VmHardwareParallelBackingSpec -Type "FILE" -File "MyFile" -HostDevice "MyHostDevice"
$VmHardwareParallelUpdateSpec = Initialize-VmHardwareParallelUpdateSpec -Backing $VmHardwareParallelBackingSpec -StartConnected $false -AllowGuestControl $false
$VmHardwareSerialBackingSpec = Initialize-VmHardwareSerialBackingSpec -Type "FILE" -File "MyFile" -HostDevice "MyHostDevice" -Pipe "MyPipe" -NoRxLoss $false -NetworkLocation "MyNetworkLocation" -Proxy "MyProxy"
$VmHardwareSerialUpdateSpec = Initialize-VmHardwareSerialUpdateSpec -YieldOnPoll $false -Backing $VmHardwareSerialBackingSpec -StartConnected $false -AllowGuestControl $false
$VMInstantCloneSpec = Initialize-VMInstantCloneSpec -Source "MySource" -Name "MyName" -Placement $VMInstantClonePlacementSpec -NicsToUpdate @{ key_example = $VmHardwareEthernetUpdateSpec } -DisconnectAllNics $false -ParallelPortsToUpdate @{ key_example = $VmHardwareParallelUpdateSpec } -SerialPortsToUpdate @{ key_example = $VmHardwareSerialUpdateSpec } -BiosUuid "MyBiosUuid"
Invoke-InstantCloneVm -VMInstantCloneSpec $VMInstantCloneSpec
cURL Command
curl -X POST -H "vmware-api-session-id: b00db39f948d13ea1e59b4d6fce56389" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"bios_uuid":"string","disconnect_all_nics":false,"name":"string","nics_to_update":{"key":{"allow_guest_control":false,"backing":{"distributed_port":"string","network":"string","type":"STANDARD_PORTGROUP"},"mac_address":"string","mac_type":"MANUAL","start_connected":false,"upt_compatibility_enabled":false,"wake_on_lan_enabled":false}},"parallel_ports_to_update":{"key":{"allow_guest_control":false,"backing":{"file":"string","host_device":"string","type":"FILE"},"start_connected":false}},"placement":{"datastore":"string","folder":"string","resource_pool":"string"},"serial_ports_to_update":{"key":{"allow_guest_control":false,"backing":{"file":"string","host_device":"string","network_location":"string","no_rx_loss":false,"pipe":"string","proxy":"string","type":"FILE"},"start_connected":false,"yield_on_poll":false}},"source":"string"}' https://{api_host}/api/vcenter/vm?action=instant-clone
Vendor Extensions
This operation contains the following vendor extensions defined in the spec:
x-vmw-doc-deprecated-method: post
x-vmw-doc-deprecated-path: /rest/vcenter/vm?action=instant-clone
x-vmw-doc-operation: instant_clone
Availability
Added in 7.0U2
On This Page
VM Operations
get
post
get
delete
post
post
post
post
post
post
post
