7.2

Import and Export Content
You can use the REST API content management service to import and export content, such as blueprints,
between vRealize Automation systems.
vRealize Automation customers often experiment with system artifacts such as catalog items, XaaS services,
resource actions, and IaaS blueprints in their development or staging environments. When appropriate,
users need to move these artifacts to their production environments.
Note You cannot import/export approval policies or entitlements. Also, you cannot import or export any
content that is in a draft state.
The examples herein are shown as Curl commands for consistency with other similar examples, though the
REST API content management service provides a convenient mechanism for moving such artifacts between
systems using the CloudClient interface. With CloudClient, there is no need to set heading values, including
the Authorization header. The $host//$servicename/api is eliminated from the URL and the service name
becomes a separate parameter. For example, consumer/entitled CatalogItems/{id}/request/template. See
“Using vRealize CloudClient,” on page 358.
Some parameters on the API request are common to all content management service import and export
commands. These parameters are listed below.
Parameter Description
$host The host name and fully qualied domain name or IP address of the
vRealize Automation identity server.
$token A valid HTTP bearer token that includes necessary credentials.
Note When exporting content, values of secure strings and encrypted properties are excluded by default.
You can add the --secure false parameter to commands to export these properties as plain text with your
content. Secure strings and encrypted properties are typically used as property holders for passwords.
The following examples illustrate the types of requests that you might use in typical import export
situations.
Prerequisites
n
Log in to vRealize Automation with an appropriate role. For example: Software Architect, Application
Architect, Infrastructure Architecture or some combination of these depending on the need.
n
Verify that the host name and fully qualied domain name of the vRealize Automation instance are
available.
n
Verify that there is a valid HTTP bearer token that matches your login credentials. See Chapter 2, “REST
API Authentication,” on page 9.
Procedure
1 (Optional) Use the REST API content service to display a list of supported vRealize Automation content
types. Typically, this step is required only if you are not familiar with the content on your system or if
you need to verify the content.
A content type describes the content that you can import or export using the content management
service.
$curl --insecure -s -H "Content-Type: application/json" -H "Authorization: Bearer $token"
https://$host/content-management-service/api/provider/contenttypes
Programming Guide
334 VMware, Inc.