For a cluster,

use the

POST https://

<vcenter_ip_address_or_fqdn>

/api/esx/settings/clusters/

<cluster_id>

/software?action=export

request

.

For a standalone host,

use the

POST https://

<vcenter_ip_address_or_fqdn>

/api/esx/settings/hosts/

<host_id>

/software?action=export

request

.

Export as an ISO image.

Set

true

to the

export_iso_image

property of the

Software.ExportSpec

JSON object that you submit in the request body.

Use the exported ISO image for performing clean installs and for bootstrapping purposes. You can upload the ISO file into the Jetty Web server on the target

vCenter Server

instance but you cannot use ISO files to manage the life cycle of clusters or a standalone host through the

vSphere Lifecycle Manager

feature.

Export as an offline bundle in a ZIP file format.

Set

true

to the

export_offline_bundle

property of the

Software.ExportSpec

JSON object that you submit in the request body.

You can use the exported offline bundle to create a depot and add its components to the resources managed by the Depot Manager module.

Export as a JSON file holding the desired state specification.

Set

true

to the

export_software_spec

property of the

Software.ExportSpec

JSON object that you submit to the request body.

You can then reuse the JSON file to apply the desired state that it contains to another cluster or standalone host in the same or in a different

vCenter Server

instance. Note that the JSON file holds only the description of the desired state. You must check whether all components described in the JSON file are available in the depot for the target cluster. See Importing a Desired State Specification for information about how you can use a desired state specification for another cluster or standalone host.

For a cluster,

use the

POST https://

<vcenter_ip_address_or_fqdn>

/api/esx/settings/clusters/

<cluster_id>

/software/drafts?action=import-software-spec

request

.

For a standalone host,

use the

POST https://

<vcenter_ip_address_or_fqdn>

/api/esx/settings/hosts/

<host_id>

/software/drafts?action=import-software-spec

request

.

Import a file from the

vCenter Server

or your local file system.

Use the

file_id

property of the

Drafts.ImportSpec

data structure to set the file ID of the software specification which was previously uploaded on the Jetty Web server running on the

vCenter Server

at

https://

<vcenter_FQDN>

:9087/vum-fileupload

URL.

You can also use this option to import a specification file that resides on your local file system. Make sure you set the source type of the import specification to

PUSH

through the

source_type

property of the

Drafts.ImportSpec

data structure

.

Import a file that resides on a URI location.

Use the

location

property of the

Drafts.ImportSpec

data structure to submit the URI location of the software specification file. The software specification can be pulled from a URI location with one of the following schemes:

file

,

http

, or

https

. You can use this import mechanism only if you set the

source_type

property to

PULL

.

Import a desired state as a JSON string.

Use the

software_spec

property of the

Drafts.ImportSpec

data structure to set the JSON string representing the software specification you want to import. Use this method only if you set the

source_type

property to

JSON_STRING

.