5.5

Table Of Contents
Update the Storage Profile for a Virtual Machine
You can update a Vm to revalidate the storage profile it uses or specify a different storage profile.
Revalidation of a virtual machine's current storage profile is required whenever the datastore that supports
the virtual machine changes.
Every Vm element includes a StorageProfile element. The value of the href attribute of that element is a
reference to the virtual machine's storage profile. The initial value of this attribute is inherited from the VDC
that contains it unless you specify the value when the virtual machine is created. To change the value, you
must update the entire Vm element that contains it.
NOTE When the system administrator changes the datastore that stores a virtual machine, you must update
the Vm element as shown in “Example: Update the Storage Profile for a Virtual Machine,” on page 146, but
leave the href of the current StorageProfile unchanged. This action, which replaces the deprecated
relocate action, forces revalidation of the existing storage profile. If the current datastore is disabled or no
longer supports the specified storage profile, the system relocates the virtual machine to a datastore that
supports the referenced storage profile.
Prerequisites
Verify that you are logged in to the vCloud API as an administrator or vApp Author.
Procedure
1 Retrieve the Vm element.
Make a GET request to the URL in the value of the href attribute of the Vm.
2 Modify the retrieved Vm to change the StorageProfile reference.
Modified sections must contain all required elements, even if you are not changing their values.
Because optional elements revert to default values if they are omitted or empty, it is a best practice to
include optional elements in updates. Link elements and href attributes from responses do not need to
be included in modified sections. Some elements and attributes might be read-only. See the schema
reference for details.
3 Update the Vm with your modifications.
a Find the Link element in the Vm where rel="edit".
b Make a PUT request to the URL in that link's href attribute value, and supply the modified Vm as
the request body.
The response to this request is a Task element that tracks the relocation of the virtual machine to a
datastore in the new storage profile. When the task is complete, the virtual machine has been relocated.
Example: Update the Storage Profile for a Virtual Machine
This example shows a Vm element containing a StorageProfile. The actual update operation requires the
entire Vm element, including the StorageProfile, in the request body. Only a small part of the element
appears in this example.
Request:
PUT https://vcloud.example.com/api/vApp/vm-4
Content-type: application/vnd.vmware.vcloud.vm+xml
...
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Vm ...>
...
<StorageProfile
vCloud API Programming Guide
146 VMware, Inc.