Python SDK Guide
Using the Red Hat Virtualization Python SDK
Abstract
Chapter 1. Overview
Version 4 of the Python software development kit is a collection of classes that allows you to interact with the Red Hat Virtualization Manager in Python-based projects. By downloading these classes and adding them to your project, you can access a range of functionality for high-level automation of administrative tasks.
Version 3 of the SDK is no longer supported. For more information, consult the RHV 4.3 version of this guide.
Python 3.7 and async
In Python 3.7 and later versions, async
is a reserved keyword. You cannot use the async
parameter in methods of services that previously supported it, as in the following example, because async=True
will cause an error:
dc = dc_service.update( types.DataCenter( description='Updated description', ), async=True, )
The solution is to add an underscore to the parameter (async_
):
dc = dc_service.update( types.DataCenter( description='Updated description', ), async_=True, )
This limitation applies only to Python 3.7 and later. Earlier versions of Python do not require this modification.
1.1. Prerequisites
To install the Python software development kit, you must have:
- A system where Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 is installed. Both the Server and Workstation variants are supported.
- A subscription to Red Hat Virtualization entitlements.
The software development kit is an interface for the Red Hat Virtualization REST API. Use the version of the software development kit that corresponds to the version of your Red Hat Virtualization environment. For example, if you are using Red Hat Virtualization 4.3, use V4 Python software development kit.
1.2. Installing the Python Software Development Kit
To install the Python software development kit:
Enable the repositories that are appropriate for your hardware platform. For example, for x86-64 hardware, enable:
# subscription-manager repos \ --enable=rhel-8-for-x86_64-baseos-rpms \ --enable=rhel-8-for-x86_64-appstream-rpms \ --enable=rhv-4.4-manager-for-rhel-8-x86_64-rpms # subscription-manager repos \ --enable=rhel-8-for-x86_64-baseos-eus-rpms \ --enable=rhel-8-for-x86_64-appstream-eus-rpms # subscription-manager release --set=8.6
Install the required packages:
# dnf install python3-ovirt-engine-sdk4
The Python software development kit is installed into the Python 3 site-packages directory, and the accompanying documentation and example are installed to /usr/share/doc/python3-ovirt-engine-sdk4
.
Chapter 2. Using the Software Development Kit
This section describes how to use the software development kit for Version 4.
2.1. Packages
The following modules are most frequently used by the Python SDK:
- ovirtsdk4
This is the top level module. It most important element is the
Connection
class, which is the mechanism to connect to the server and to obtain the reference to the root of the services tree.The
Error
class is the base exception class that the SDK will raise when it needs to report an error.For certain kinds of errors, there are specific error classes, which extend the base error class:
-
AuthError
- Raised when authentication or authorization fails. -
ConnectionError
- Raised when the name of the server cannot be resolved or the server is unreachable. -
NotFoundError
- Raised when the requested object does not exist. -
TimeoutError
- Raised when an operation times out.
-
- ovirtsdk4.types
This module contains the classes that implement the types used in the API. For example, the
ovirtsdk4.types.Vm
class is the implementation of the virtual machine type. These classes are data containers and do not contain any logic.Instances of these classes are used as parameters and return values of service methods. The conversion to or from the underlying representation is handled transparently by the SDK.
- ovirtsdk4.services
This module contains the classes that implement the services supported by the API. For example, the
ovirtsdk4.services.VmsService
class is the implementation of the service that manages the collection of virtual machines of the system.Instances of these classes are automatically created by the SDK when a service is located. For example, a new instance of the
VmsService
class is automatically created by the SDK when doing the following:vms_service = connection.system_service().vms_service()
It is best to avoid creating instances of these classes manually, as the parameters of the constructors and, in general, all the methods except the service locators and service methods, may change in the future.
There are other modules, like
ovirtsdk4.http
,ovirtsdk4.readers
, andovirtsdk4.writers
. These are used to implement the HTTP communication and for XML parsing and rendering. Avoid using them, because they are internal implementation details that may change in the future; backwards compatibility is not guaranteed.
2.2. Connecting to the Server
To connect to the server, import the ovirtsdk4
module, which contains the Connection
class. This is the entry point of the SDK, and provides access to the root of the tree of services of the API:
import ovirtsdk4 as sdk connection = sdk.Connection( url='https://engine.example.com/ovirt-engine/api', username='admin@internal', password='password', ca_file='ca.pem', )
The connection holds critical resources, including a pool of HTTP connections to the server and an authentication token. It is very important to free these resources when they are no longer in use:
connection.close()
Once a connection is closed, it cannot be reused.
The ca.pem
file is required when connecting to a server protected with TLS. In a normal installation, it is located in /etc/pki/ovirt-engine/ on the Manager machine. If you do not specify the ca_file
, the system-wide CA certificate store will be used. For more information on obtaining the ca.pem
file, see the REST API Guide.
If the connection is not successful, the SDK will raise an ovirtsdk4.Error
exception containing the details.
2.3. Using Types
The classes in the ovirtsdk4.types
module are pure data containers. They do not have any logic or operations. Instances of types can be created and modified at will.
Creating or modifying an instance does not affect the server side, unless the change is explicitly passed with a call to one of the service methods described below. Changes on the server side are not automatically reflected in the instances that already exist in memory.
The constructors of these classes have multiple optional arguments, one for each attribute of the type. This is intended to simplify creation of objects using nested calls to multiple constructors. This example creates an instance of a virtual machine, specifying its cluster name, template, and memory, in bytes:
from ovirtsdk4 import types vm = types.Vm( name='vm1', cluster=types.Cluster( name='Default' ), template=types.Template( name='mytemplate' ), memory=1073741824 )
Using the constructors in this way is recommended, but not mandatory. You can also create the instance with no arguments in the call to the constructor and populate the object step by step, using the setters, or by using a mix of both approaches:
vm = types.Vm() vm.name = 'vm1' vm.cluster = types.Cluster(name='Default') vm.template = types.Template(name='mytemplate') vm.memory=1073741824
Attributes that are defined as lists of objects in the specification of the API are implemented as Python lists. For example, the custom_properties
attributes of the Vm
type are defined as a list of objects of type CustomProperty
. When the attributes are used in the SDK, they are a Python list:
vm = types.Vm( name='vm1', custom_properties=[ types.CustomProperty(...), types.CustomProperty(...), ... ] )
Attributes that are defined as enumerated values in API are implemented as enum
in Python, using the native support for enums
in Python 3 and the enum34
package in Python 2.7. In this example, the status attribute of the Vm
type is defined using the VmStatus enum
:
if vm.status == types.VmStatus.DOWN: ... elif vm.status == types.VmStatus.IMAGE_LOCKED: ....
In the API specification, the values of enum
types appear in lower case, because that is what is used for XML and JSON. The Python convention, however, is to capitalize enum
values.
Reading the attributes of instances of types is done using the corresponding properties:
print("vm.name: %s" % vm.name) print("vm.memory: %s" % vm.memory) for custom_property in vm.custom_properties: ...
2.4. Using Links
Some attributes of types are defined by the API as links. This convention indicates that the values are not normally populated when retrieving the representation of that object. Rather, a link is returned instead. For example, when retrieving a virtual machine, the XML response from the server includes the <link>
attribute:
<vm id="123" href="/ovirt-engine/api/vms/123"> <name>vm1</name> <link rel="diskattachments" href="/ovirt-engine/api/vms/123/diskattachments/> ... </vm>
The link to vm.diskattachments
does not contain the actual disk attachments. To obtain the data, the Connection
class provides a follow_link
method that uses the value of the href
XML attribute to retrieve the actual data. For example, to retrieve the details of the disks of the virtual machine, you follow the link to the disk attachments, and then to each of the disks:
# Retrieve the virtual machine: vm = vm_service.get() # Follow the link to the disk attachments, and then to the disks: attachments = connection.follow_link(vm.disk_attachments) for attachment in attachments: disk = connection.follow_link(attachment.disk) print("disk.alias: " % disk.alias)
2.5. Locating Services
The API provides a set of services, each associated with a path within the URL space of the server. For example, the service that manages the collection of virtual machines of the system is located in /vms, and the service that manages the virtual machine with identifier 123
is located in /vms/123.
In the SDK, the root of that tree of services is implemented by the system service. It is obtained calling the system_service
method of the connection:
system_service = connection.system_service()
When you have the reference to this system service, you can use it to obtain references to other services, calling the *_service
methods, called service locators, of the previous service. For example, to obtain a reference to the service that manages the collection of virtual machines of the system, you use the vms_service
service locator:
vms_service = system_service.vms_service()
To obtain a reference to the service that manages the virtual machine with identifier 123
, you use the vm_service
service locator of the service that manages the collection of virtual machines. It uses the identifier of the virtual machine as a parameter:
vm_service = vms_service.vm_service('123')
Calling service locators does not send a request to the server. The Python objects that they return are pure services, which do not contain any data. For example, the vm_service
Python object called in this example is not the representation of a virtual machine. It is the service that is used to retrieve, update, delete, start and stop that virtual machine.
2.6. Using Services
After you have located a service, you can call its service methods, which send requests to the server and do the real work.
Services that manage a single object usually support the get
, update
, and remove
methods.
Services that manage collections of objects usually support the list
and add
methods.
Both kinds of services, especially services that manage a single object, can support additional action methods.
2.6.1. Using get
Methods
These service methods are used to retrieve the representation of a single object. The following example retrieves the representation of the virtual machine with identifier 123
:
# Find the service that manages the virtual machine: vms_service = system_service.vms_service() vm_service = vms_service.vm_service('123') # Retrieve the representation of the virtual machine: vm = vm_service.get()
The response is an instance of the corresponding type, in this case an instance of the Python class ovirtsdk4.types.Vm
.
The get
methods of some services support additional parameters that control how to retrieve the representation of the object or what representation to retrieve if there is more than one. For example, you may want to retrieve either the current state of a virtual machine or its state the next time it is started, as they may be different. The get
method of the service that manages a virtual machine supports a next_run
Boolean parameter:
# Retrieve the representation of the virtual machine, not the # current one, but the one that will be used after the next # boot: vm = vm_service.get(next_run=True)
See the reference documentation of the SDK for details.
If the object cannot be retrieved for any reason, the SDK raises an ovirtsdk4.Error
exception, with details of the failure. This includes the situation when the object does not actually exist. Note that the exception is raised when calling the get
service method. The call to the service locator method never fails, even if the object does not exist, because that call does not send a request to the server. For example:
# Call the service that manages a non-existent virtual machine. # This call will succeed. vm_service = vms_service.vm_service('junk') # Retrieve the virtual machine. This call will raise an exception. vm = vm_service.get()
2.6.2. Using list
Methods
These service methods retrieve the representations of the objects of a collection. This example retrieves the complete collection of virtual machines of the system:
# Find the service that manages the collection of virtual # machines: vms_service = system_service.vms_service() # List the virtual machines in the collection vms = vms_service.list()
The result will be a Python list containing the instances of corresponding types. For example, in this case, the result will be a list of instances of the class ovirtsdk4.types.Vm
.
The list
methods of some services support additional parameters. For example, almost all top-level collections support a search
parameter to filter the results or a max
parameter to limit the number of results returned by the server. This example retrieves the names of virtual machines starting with my
, with an upper limit of 10 results:
vms = vms_service.list(search='name=my*', max=10)
Not all list
methods support these parameters. Some list
methods support other parameters. See the reference documentation of the SDK for details.
If a list of returned results is empty for any reason, the returned value will be an empty list. It will never be None
.
If there is an error while trying to retrieve the result, the SDK will raise an ovirtsdk4.Error
exception containing the details of the failure.
2.6.3. Using add
Methods
These service methods add new elements to a collection. They receive an instance of the relevant type describing the object to add, send the request to add it, and return an instance of the type describing the added object.
This example adds a new virtual machine called vm1:
from ovirtsdk4 import types # Add the virtual machine: vm = vms_service.add( vm=types.Vm( name='vm1', cluster=types.Cluster( name='Default' ), template=types.Template( name='mytemplate' ) ) )
If the object cannot be created for any reason, the SDK will raise an ovirtsdk4.Error
exception containing the details of the failure. It will never return None
.
The Python object returned by this add
method is an instance of the relevant type. It is not a service but a container of data. In this particular example, the returned object is an instance of the ovirtsdk4.types.Vm
class. If, after creating the virtual machine, you need to perform an operation such as retrieving or starting it, you will first need to find the service that manages it, and call the corresponding service locator:
# Add the virtual machine: vm = vms_service.add( ... ) # Find the service that manages the virtual machine: vm_service = vms_service.vm_service(vm.id) # Start the virtual machine vm_service.start()
Objects are created asynchronously. When you create a new virtual machine, the add
method will return a response before the virtual machine is completely created and ready to be used. It is good practice to poll the status of the object to ensure that it is completely created. For a virtual machine, you should check until its status is DOWN
:
# Add the virtual machine: vm = vms_service.add( ... ) # Find the service that manages the virtual machine: vm_service = vms_service.vm_service(vm.id) # Wait until the virtual machine is down, indicating that it is # completely created: while True: time.sleep(5) vm = vm_service.get() if vm.status == types.VmStatus.DOWN: break
Using a loop to retrieve the object status, with the get
method, ensures that the status attribute is updated.
2.6.4. Using update
Methods
These service methods update existing objects. They receive an instance of the relevant type describing the update to perform, send the request to update it, and return an instance of the type describing the updated object.
This example updates the name of a virtual machine from vm1
to newvm
:
from ovirtsdk4 import types # Find the virtual machine, and then the service that # manages it: vm = vms_service.list(search='name=vm1')[0] vm_service = vm_service.vm_service(vm.id) # Update the name: updated_vm = vm_service.update( vm=types.Vm( name='newvm' ) )
When performing updates, avoid sending the complete representation of the object. Send only the attributes that you want to update. Do not do this:
# Retrieve the complete representation: vm = vm_service.get() # Update the representation, in memory, without sending a request # to the server: vm.name = 'newvm' # Send the update. Do *not* do this. vms_service.update(vm)
Sending the complete representation causes two problems:
- You are sending much more information than the server needs, thus wasting resources.
- The server will try to update all the attributes of the object, even those that you did not intend to change. This may cause bugs on the server side.
The update
methods of some services support additional parameters that control how or what to update. For example, you may want to update either the current state of a virtual machine or the state that will be used the next time the virtual machine is started. The update
method of the service that manages a virtual machine supports a next_run
Boolean parameter:
# Update the memory of the virtual machine to 1 GiB, # not during the current run, but after next boot: vm = vm_service.update( vm=types.Vm( memory=1073741824 ), next_run=True )
If the update cannot be performed for any reason, the SDK will raise an ovirtsdk4.Error
exception containing the details of the failure. It will never return None
.
The Python object returned by this update method is an instance of the relevant type. It is not a service, but a container for data. In this particular example, the returned object will be an instance of the ovirtsdk4.types.Vm
class.
2.6.5. Using remove
Methods
These service methods remove existing objects. They usually do not take parameters, because they are methods of services that manage single objects. Therefore, the service already knows what object to remove.
This example removes the virtual machine with identifier 123
:
# Find the virtual machine by name: vm = vms_service.list(search='name=123')[0] # Find the service that manages the virtual machine using the ID: vm_service = vms_service.vm_service(vm.id) # Remove the virtual machine: vm_service.remove()
The remove
methods of some services support additional parameters that control how or what to remove. For example, it is possible to remove a virtual machine while preserving its disks, using the detach_only
Boolean parameter:
# Remove the virtual machine while preserving the disks: vm_service.remove(detach_only=True)
The remove
method returns None
if the object is removed successfully. It does not return the removed object. If the object cannot be removed for any reason, the SDK raises an ovirtsdk4.Error
exception containing the details of the failure.
2.6.6. Using Other Action Methods
There are other service methods that perform miscellaneous operations, such as stopping and starting a virtual machine:
# Start the virtual machine: vm_service.start()
Many of these methods include parameters that modify the operation. For example, the method that starts a virtual machine supports a use_cloud_init
parameter, if you want to start it using cloud-init
:
# Start the virtual machine: vm_service.start(cloud_init=True)
Most action methods return None
when they succeed and raise an ovirtsdk4.Error
when they fail. A few action methods return values. For example, the service that manages a storage domain has an is_attached
action method that checks whether the storage domain is already attached to a data center and returns a Boolean value:
# Check if the storage domain is attached to a data center: sds_service = system_service.storage_domains_service() sd_service = sds_service.storage_domain_service('123') if sd_service.is_attached(): ...
Check the reference documentation of the SDK to see the action methods supported by each service, the parameters that they take, and the values that they return.
2.7. Additional Resources
For detailed information and examples, see the following resources:
2.7.1. Generating documentation for modules
You can generate documentation using pydoc for the following modules:
- ovirtsdk.api
- ovirtsdk.infrastructure.brokers
- ovirtsdk.infrastructure.errors
The documentation is provided by the ovirt-engine-sdk-python
package. Run the following command on the Manager machine to view the latest version of these documents:
$ pydoc [MODULE]
Chapter 3. Python Examples
3.1. Overview
This section provides examples demonstrating the steps to create a virtual machine within a basic Red Hat Virtualization environment, using the Python SDK.
These examples use the ovirtsdk
Python library provided by the ovirt-engine-sdk-python
package. This package is available to systems attached to a Red Hat Virtualization
subscription pool in Red Hat Subscription Manager. See Installing the Software Development Kit for more information on subscribing your system(s) to download the software.
You will also need:
- A networked installation of Red Hat Virtualization Manager.
- A networked and configured Red Hat Virtualization Host.
- An ISO image file containing an operating system for installation on a virtual machine.
- A working understanding of both the logical and physical objects that make up a Red Hat Virtualization environment.
- A working understanding of the Python programming language.
The examples include placeholders for authentication details (admin@internal
for user name, and password
for password). Replace the placeholders with the authentication requirements of your environment.
Red Hat Virtualization Manager generates a globally unique identifier (GUID) for the id
attribute for each resource. Identifier codes in these examples differ from the identifier codes in your Red Hat Virtualization environment.
The examples contain only basic exception and error handling logic. For more information on the exception handling specific to the SDK, see the pydoc for the ovirtsdk.infrastructure.errors
module:
$ pydoc ovirtsdk.infrastructure.errors
3.2. Connecting to the Red Hat Virtualization Manager in Version 4
To connect to the Red Hat Virtualization Manager, you must create an instance of the Connection class from the ovirtsdk4.sdk
module by importing the class at the start of the script:
import ovirtsdk4 as sdk
The constructor of the Connection class takes a number of arguments. Supported arguments are:
url
-
A string containing the base URL of the Manager, such as
https://server.example.com/ovirt-engine/api
. username
-
Specifies the user name to connect, such as
admin@internal
. This parameter is mandatory. password
-
Specifies the password for the user name provided by the
username
parameter. This parameter is mandatory. token
-
An optional token to access the API, instead of a user name and password. If the
token
parameter is not specified, the SDK will create one automatically. insecure
- A Boolean flag that indicates whether the server’s TLS certificate and host name should be checked.
ca_file
-
A PEM file containing the trusted CA certificates. The certificate presented by the server will be verified using these CA certificates. If
ca_file
parameter is not set, the system-wide CA certificate store is used. debug
A Boolean flag indicating whether debug output should be generated. If the value is
True
and thelog
parameter is notNone
, the data sent to and received from the server will be written to the log.NoteUser names and passwords are written to the debug log, so handle it with care.
Compression is disabled in debug mode, which means that debug messages are sent as plain text.
log
- The logger where the log messages will be written.
kerberos
- A Boolean flag indicating whether Kerberos authentication should be used instead of the default basic authentication.
timeout
-
The maximum total time to wait for the response, in seconds. A value of
0
(default) means to wait forever. If the timeout expires before the response is received, an exception is raised. compress
-
A Boolean flag indicating whether the SDK should ask the server to send compressed responses. The default is
True
. This is a hint for the server, which may return uncompressed data even when this parameter is set toTrue
. Compression is disabled in debug mode, which means that debug messages are sent as plain text. sso_url
-
A string containing the base SSO URL of the server. The default SSO URL is computed from the
url
if nosso_url
is provided. sso_revoke_url
-
A string containing the base URL of the SSO revoke service. This needs to be specified only when using an external authentication service. By default, this URL is automatically calculated from the value of the
url
parameter, so that SSO token revoke will be performed using the SSO service, which is part of the Manager. sso_token_name
-
The token name in the JSON SSO response returned from the SSO server. Default value is
access_token
. headers
- A dictionary with headers, which should be sent with every request.
connections
-
The maximum number of connections to open to the host. If the value is
0
(default), the number of connections is unlimited. pipeline
-
The maximum number of requests to put in an HTTP pipeline without waiting for the response. If the value is
0
(default), pipelining is disabled.
import ovirtsdk4 as sdk # Create a connection to the server: connection = sdk.Connection( url='https://engine.example.com/ovirt-engine/api', username='admin@internal', password='password', ca_file='ca.pem', ) connection.test() print("Connected successfully!") connection.close()
For a full list of supported methods, you can generate the documentation for the ovirtsdk.api
module on the Manager machine:
$ pydoc ovirtsdk.api
3.3. Listing Data Centers
The datacenters
collection contains all the data centers in the environment.
Example 3.1. Listing data centers
This example lists the data centers in the datacenters
collection and output some basic information about each data center in the collection.
V4
import ovirtsdk4 as sdk import ovirtsdk4.types as types connection = sdk.Connection( url='https://engine.example.com/ovirt-engine/api', username='admin@internal', password='password', ca_file='ca.pem', ) dcs_service = connection.system_service().dcs_service() dcs = dcs_service.list() for dc in dcs: print("%s (%s)" % (dc.name, dc.id)) connection.close()
In an environment where only the Default
data center exists, and it is not activated, the examples output the text:
Default (00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000)
3.4. Listing Clusters
The clusters
collection contains all clusters in the environment.
Example 3.2. Listing clusters
This example lists the clusters in the clusters
collection and output some basic information about each cluster in the collection.
V4
import ovirtsdk4 as sdk import ovirtsdk4.types as types connection = sdk.Connection( url='https://engine.example.com/ovirt-engine/api', username='admin@internal', password='password', ca_file='ca.pem', ) cls_service = connection.system_service().clusters_service() cls = cls_service.list() for cl in cls: print("%s (%s)" % (cl.name, cl.id)) connection.close()
In an environment where only the Default
cluster exists, the examples output the text:
Default (00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000)
3.5. Listing Hosts
The hosts
collection contains all hosts in the environment.
Example 3.3. Listing hosts
This example lists the hosts in the hosts
collection and their IDs.
V4
import ovirtsdk4 as sdk import ovirtsdk4.types as types connection = sdk.Connection( url='https://engine.example.com/ovirt-engine/api', username='admin@internal', password='password', ca_file='ca.pem', ) host_service = connection.system_service().hosts_service() hosts = host_service.list() for host in hosts: print("%s (%s)" % (host.name, host.id)) connection.close()
In an environment where only one host, MyHost
, has been attached, the examples output the text:
MyHost (00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000)
3.6. Listing Logical Networks
The networks
collection contains all logical networks in the environment.
Example 3.4. Listing logical networks
This example lists the logical networks in the networks
collection and outputs some basic information about each network in the collection.
V4
import ovirtsdk4 as sdk import ovirtsdk4.types as types connection = sdk.Connection( url='https://engine.example.com/ovirt-engine/api', username='admin@internal', password='password', ca_file='ca.pem', ) nws_service = connection.system_service().networks_service() nws = nws_service.list() for nw in nws: print("%s (%s)" % (nw.name, nw.id)) connection.close()
In an environment where only the default management network exists, the examples output the text:
ovirtmgmt (00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000)
3.7. Listing Virtual Machines and Total Disk Size
The vms
collection contains a disks
collection that describes the details of each disk attached to a virtual machine.
Example 3.5. Listing virtual machines and total disk size
This example prints a list of virtual machines and their total disk size in bytes:
V4
import ovirtsdk4 as sdk import ovirtsdk4.types as types connection = sdk.Connection( url='https://engine.example.com/ovirt-engine/api', username='admin@internal', password='password', ca_file='ca.pem', ) vms_service = connection.system_service().vms_service() virtual_machines = vms_service.list() if len(virtual_machines) > 0: print("%-30s %s" % ("Name", "Disk Size")) print("==================================================") for virtual_machine in virtual_machines: vm_service = vms_service.vm_service(virtual_machine.id) disk_attachments = vm_service.disk_attachments_service().list() disk_size = 0 for disk_attachment in disk_attachments: disk = connection.follow_link(disk_attachment.disk) disk_size += disk.provisioned_size print("%-30s: %d" % (virtual_machine.name, disk_size))
The examples output the virtual machine names and their disk sizes:
Name Disk Size ================================================== vm1 50000000000
3.8. Creating NFS Data Storage
When a Red Hat Virtualization environment is first created, it is necessary to define at least a data storage domain and an ISO storage domain. The data storage domain stores virtual disks while the ISO storage domain stores the installation media for guest operating systems.
The storagedomains
collection contains all the storage domains in the environment and can be used to add and remove storage domains.
The code provided in this example assumes that the remote NFS share has been pre-configured for use with Red Hat Virtualization. See the Administration Guide for more information on preparing NFS shares.
Example 3.6. Creating NFS data storage
This example adds an NFS data domain to the storagedomains
collection.
V4
For V4, the add
method is used to add the new storage domain and the types
class is used to pass the following parameters:
- A name for the storage domain.
-
The data center object that was retrieved from the
datacenters
collection. -
The host object that was retrieved from the
hosts
collection. -
The type of storage domain being added (
data
,iso
, orexport
). -
The storage format to use (
v1
,v2
, orv3
).
import ovirtsdk4 as sdk import ovirtsdk4.types as types # Create the connection to the server: connection = sdk.Connection( url='https://engine.example.com/ovirt-engine/api', username='admin@internal', password='password', ca_file='ca.pem', ) # Get the reference to the storage domains service: sds_service = connection.system_service().storage_domains_service() # Create a new NFS storage domain: sd = sds_service.add( types.StorageDomain( name='mydata', description='My data', type=types.StorageDomainType.DATA, host=types.Host( name='myhost', ), storage=types.HostStorage( type=types.StorageType.NFS, address='_FQDN_', path='/nfs/ovirt/path/to/mydata', ), ), ) # Wait until the storage domain is unattached: sd_service = sds_service.storage_domain_service(sd.id) while True: time.sleep(5) sd = sd_service.get() if sd.status == types.StorageDomainStatus.UNATTACHED: break print("Storage Domain '%s' added (%s)." % (sd.name(), sd.id())) connection.close()
If the add
method call is successful, the examples output the text:
Storage Domain 'mydata' added (00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000).
3.9. Creating NFS ISO Storage
To create a virtual machine, you need installation media for the guest operating system. The installation media are stored in an ISO storage domain.
The code provided in this example assumes that the remote NFS share has been pre-configured for use with Red Hat Virtualization. See the Administration Guide for more information on preparing NFS shares.
Example 3.7. Creating NFS ISO storage
This example adds an NFS ISO domain to the storagedomains
collection.
V4
For V4, the add
method is used to add the new storage domain and the types
class is used to pass the following parameters:
- A name for the storage domain.
-
The data center object that was retrieved from the
datacenters
collection. -
The host object that was retrieved from the
hosts
collection. -
The type of storage domain being added (
data
,iso
, orexport
). -
The storage format to use (
v1
,v2
, orv3
).
import ovirtsdk4 as sdk import ovirtsdk4.types as types connection = sdk.Connection( url='https://engine.example.com/ovirt-engine/api', username='admin@internal', password='password', ca_file='ca.pem', ) # Get the reference to the storage domains service: sds_service = connection.system_service().storage_domains_service() # Use the "add" method to create a new NFS storage domain: sd = sds_service.add( types.StorageDomain( name='myiso', description='My ISO', type=types.StorageDomainType.ISO, host=types.Host( name='myhost', ), storage=types.HostStorage( type=types.StorageType.NFS, address='FQDN', path='/nfs/ovirt/path/to/myiso', ), ), ) # Wait until the storage domain is unattached: sd_service = sds_service.storage_domain_service(sd.id) while True: time.sleep(5) sd = sd_service.get() if sd.status == types.StorageDomainStatus.UNATTACHED: break print("Storage Domain '%s' added (%s)." % (sd.name(), sd.id())) # Close the connection to the server: connection.close()
If the add
method call is successful, the examples output the text:
Storage Domain 'myiso' added (00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000).
3.10. Attaching a Storage Domain to a Data Center
Once you have added a storage domain to Red Hat Virtualization, you must attach it to a data center and activate it before it will be ready for use.
Example 3.8. Attaching a storage domain to a data center
This example attaches an existing NFS storage domain, mydata
, to the an existing data center, Default
. The attach action is facilitated by the add
method of the data center’s storagedomains
collection. These examples may be used to attach both data and ISO storage domains.
V4
import ovirtsdk4 as sdk import ovirtsdk4.types as types # Create the connection to the server: connection = sdk.Connection( url='https://engine.example.com/ovirt-engine/api', username='admin@internal', password='password', ca_file='ca.pem', ) # Locate the service that manages the storage domains and use it to # search for the storage domain: sds_service = connection.system_service().storage_domains_service() sd = sds_service.list(search='name=mydata')[0] # Locate the service that manages the data centers and use it to # search for the data center: dcs_service = connection.system_service().data_centers_service() dc = dcs_service.list(search='name=Default')[0] # Locate the service that manages the data center where we want to # attach the storage domain: dc_service = dcs_service.data_center_service(dc.id) # Locate the service that manages the storage domains that are attached # to the data centers: attached_sds_service = dc_service.storage_domains_service() # Use the "add" method of service that manages the attached storage # domains to attach it: attached_sds_service.add( types.StorageDomain( id=sd.id, ), ) # Wait until the storage domain is active: attached_sd_service = attached_sds_service.storage_domain_service(sd.id) while True: time.sleep(5) sd = attached_sd_service.get() if sd.status == types.StorageDomainStatus.ACTIVE: break print("Attached data storage domain '%s' to data center '%s' (Status: %s)." % (sd.name(), dc.name(), sd.status.state())) # Close the connection to the server: connection.close()
If the calls to the add
methods are successful, the examples output the following text:
Attached data storage domain 'data1' to data center 'Default' (Status: maintenance).
Status: maintenance
indicates that the storage domains still need to be activated.
3.11. Activating a Storage Domain
Once you have added a storage domain to Red Hat Virtualization and attached it to a data center, you must activate it before it will be ready for use.
Example 3.9. Activating a storage domain
This example activates an NFS storage domain, mydata
, attached to the data center, Default
. The activate
action is facilitated by the activate
method of the storage domain.
V4
import ovirtsdk4 as sdk connection = sdk.Connection url='https://engine.example.com/ovirt-engine/api', username='admin@internal', password='password', ca_file='ca.pem', ) # Locate the service that manages the storage domains and use it to # search for the storage domain: sds_service = connection.system_service().storage_domains_service() sd = sds_service.list(search='name=mydata')[0] # Locate the service that manages the data centers and use it to # search for the data center: dcs_service = connection.system_service().data_centers_service() dc = dcs_service.list(search='name=Default')[0] # Locate the service that manages the data center where we want to # attach the storage domain: dc_service = dcs_service.data_center_service(dc.id) # Locate the service that manages the storage domains that are attached # to the data centers: attached_sds_service = dc_service.storage_domains_service() # Activate storage domain: attached_sd_service = attached_sds_service.storage_domain_service(sd.id) attached_sd_service.activate() # Wait until the storage domain is active: while True: time.sleep(5) sd = attached_sd_service.get() if sd.status == types.StorageDomainStatus.ACTIVE: break print("Attached data storage domain '%s' to data center '%s' (Status: %s)." % (sd.name(), dc.name(), sd.status.state())) # Close the connection to the server: connection.close()
If the activate
requests are successful, the examples output the text:
Activated storage domain 'mydata' in data center 'Default' (Status: active).
Status: active
indicates that the storage domains have been activated.
3.12. Listing Files in an ISO Storage Domain
The storagedomains
collection contains a files
collection that describes the files in a storage domain.
Example 3.10. Listing Files in an ISO Storage Domain
This example prints a list of the ISO files in each ISO storage domain:
V4
import ovirtsdk4 as sdk import ovirtsdk4.types as types connection = sdk.Connection( url='https://engine.example.com/ovirt-engine/api', username='admin@internal', password='password', ca_file='ca.pem', ) storage_domains_service = connection.system_service().storage_domains_service() storage_domains = storage_domains_service.list() for storage_domain in storage_domains: if(storage_domain.type == types.StorageDomainType.ISO): print(storage_domain.name + ":\n") files = storage_domain.files_service().list() for file in files: print("%s" % file.name + "\n") connection.close()
The examples output the text:
ISO_storage_domain: file1 file2
3.13. Creating a Virtual Machine
Virtual machine creation is performed in several steps. The first step, covered here, is to create the virtual machine object itself.
Example 3.11. Creating a virtual machine
This example creates a virtual machine, vm1
, with the following requirements:
- 512 MB of memory, expressed in bytes.
-
Attached to the
Default
cluster, and therefore theDefault
data center. -
Based on the default
Blank
template. - Boots from the virtual hard disk drive.
V4
In V4, the options are added as types
, using the add
method.
import ovirtsdk4 as sdk import ovirtsdk4.types as types connection = sdk.Connection( url='https://engine.example.com/ovirt-engine/api', username='admin@internal', password='password', ca_file='ca.pem', ) # Get the reference to the "vms" service: vms_service = connection.system_service().vms_service() # Use the "add" method to create a new virtual machine: vms_service.add( types.Vm( name='vm1', memory = 512*1024*1024 cluster=types.Cluster( name='Default', ), template=types.Template( name='Blank', ), os=types.OperatingSystem(boot=types.Boot(devices=[types.BootDevice.HD)] ), ) print("Virtual machine '%s' added." % vm.name) # Close the connection to the server: connection.close()
If the add
request is successful, the examples output the text:
Virtual machine 'vm1' added.
3.14. Creating a Virtual NIC
To ensure that a newly created virtual machine has network access, you must create and attach a virtual NIC.
Example 3.12. Creating a virtual NIC
This example creates a NIC, nic1
, and attach it to a virtual machine, vm1
. The NIC in this example is a virtio
network device and attached to the ovirtmgmt
management network.
V4
import ovirtsdk4 as sdk import ovirtsdk4.types as types connection = sdk.Connection( url='https://engine.example.com/ovirt-engine/api', username='admin@internal', password='password', ca_file='ca.pem', ) # Locate the virtual machines service and use it to find the virtual # machine: vms_service = connection.system_service().vms_service() vm = vms_service.list(search='name=vm1')[0] # Locate the service that manages the network interface cards of the # virtual machine: nics_service = vms_service.vm_service(vm.id).nics_service() # Locate the vnic profiles service and use it to find the ovirmgmt # network's profile id: profiles_service = connection.system_service().vnic_profiles_service() profile_id = None for profile in profiles_service.list(): if profile.name == 'ovirtmgmt': profile_id = profile.id break # Use the "add" method of the network interface cards service to add the # new network interface card: nic = nics_service.add( types.Nic( name='nic1', interface=types.NicInterface.VIRTIO, vnic_profile=types.VnicProfile(id=profile_id), ), ) print("Network interface '%s' added to '%s'." % (nic.name, vm.name)) connection.close()
If the add
request is successful, the examples output the text:
Network interface 'nic1' added to 'vm1'.
3.15. Creating a Virtual Machine Disk
To ensure that a newly created virtual machine has access to persistent storage, you must create and attach a disk.
Example 3.13. Creating a virtual machine disk
This example creates an 8 GB virtio
disk and attach it to a virtual machine, vm1
. The disk has the following requirements:
-
Stored on the storage domain named
data1
. - 8 GB in size.
-
system
type disk (as opposed todata
). -
virtio
storage device. -
COW
format. - Marked as a usable boot device.
V4
import ovirtsdk4 as sdk import ovirtsdk4.types as types connection = sdk.Connection( url='https://engine.example.com/ovirt-engine/api', username='admin@internal', password='password', ca_file='ca.pem', ) # Locate the virtual machines service and use it to find the virtual # machine: vms_service = connection.system_service().vms_service() vm = vms_service.list(search='name=vm1')[0] # Locate the service that manages the disk attachments of the virtual # machine: disk_attachments_service = vms_service.vm_service(vm.id).disk_attachments_service() # Use the "add" method of the disk attachments service to add the disk. # Note that the size of the disk, the `provisioned_size` attribute, is # specified in bytes, so to create a disk of 10 GiB the value should # be 10 * 2^30. disk_attachment = disk_attachments_service.add( types.DiskAttachment( disk=types.Disk( format=types.DiskFormat.COW, provisioned_size=8*1024*1024, storage_domains=[ types.StorageDomain( name='data1', ), ], ), interface=types.DiskInterface.VIRTIO, bootable=True, active=True, ), ) # Wait until the disk status is OK: disks_service = connection.system_service().disks_service() disk_service = disks_service.disk_service(disk_attachment.disk.id) while True: time.sleep(5) disk = disk_service.get() if disk.status == types.DiskStatus.OK: break print("Disk '%s' added to '%s'." % (disk.name(), vm.name())) # Close the connection to the server: connection.close()
If the add
request is successful, the examples output the text:
Disk 'vm1_Disk1' added to 'vm1'.
3.16. Attaching an ISO Image to a Virtual Machine
To install a guest operating system on a newly created virtual machine, you must attach an ISO file containing the operating system installation media. To locate the ISO file, see Listing Files in an ISO Storage Domain.
Example 3.14. Attaching an ISO image to a virtual machine
This example attaches my_iso_file.iso to the vm1
virtual machine, using the add
method of the virtual machine’s cdroms
collection.
V4
import ovirtsdk4 as sdk import ovirtsdk4.types as types connection = sdk.Connection( url='https://engine.example.com/ovirt-engine/api', username='admin@internal', password='password', ca_file='ca.pem', ) # Get the reference to the "vms" service: vms_service = connection.system_service().vms_service() # Find the virtual machine: vm = vms_service.list(search='name=vm1')[0] # Locate the service that manages the virtual machine: vm_service = vms_service.vm_service(vm.id) # Locate the service that manages the CDROM devices of the virtual machine: cdroms_service = vm_service.cdroms_service() # Get the first CDROM: cdrom = cdroms_service.list()[0] # Locate the service that manages the CDROM device found in previous step: cdrom_service = cdroms_service.cdrom_service(cdrom.id) # Change the CD of the VM to 'my_iso_file.iso'. By default the # operation permanently changes the disk that is visible to the # virtual machine after the next boot, but has no effect # on the currently running virtual machine. If you want to change the # disk that is visible to the current running virtual machine, change # the `current` parameter's value to `True`. cdrom_service.update( cdrom=types.Cdrom( file=types.File( id='my_iso_file.iso' ), ), current=False, ) print("Attached CD to '%s'." % vm.name()) # Close the connection to the server: connection.close()
If the add
request is successful, the examples output the text:
Attached CD to 'vm1'.
Example 3.15. Ejecting a cdrom from a virtual machine
This example ejects an ISO image from a virtual machine’s cdrom
collection.
V4
import ovirtsdk4 as sdk import ovirtsdk4.types as types connection = sdk.Connection( url='https://engine.example.com/ovirt-engine/api', username='admin@internal', password='password', ca_file='ca.pem', ) # Get the reference to the "vms" service: vms_service = connection.system_service().vms_service() # Find the virtual machine: vm = vms_service.list(search='name=vm1')[0] # Locate the service that manages the virtual machine: vm_service = vms_service.vm_service(vm.id) # Locate the service that manages the CDROM devices of the VM: cdroms_service = vm_service.cdroms_service() # Get the first found CDROM: cdrom = cdroms_service.list()[0] # Locate the service that manages the CDROM device found in previous step # of the VM: cdrom_service = cdroms_service.cdrom_service(cdrom.id) cdrom_service.remove() print("Removed CD from '%s'." % vm.name()) connection.close()
If the delete
or remove
request is successful, the examples output the text:
Removed CD from 'vm1'.
3.17. Detaching a Disk
You can detach a disk from a virtual machine.
Detaching a disk
V4
import ovirtsdk4 as sdk import ovirtsdk4.types as types connection = sdk.Connection( url='https://engine.example.com/ovirt-engine/api', username='admin@internal', password='password', ca_file='ca.pem', ) # Get the reference to the "vms" service: vms_service = connection.system_service().vms_service() # Find the virtual machine: vm = vms_service.list(search='name=vm1')[0] # Locate the service that manages the virtual machine: vm_service = vms_service.vm_service(vm.id) attachments_service = vm_service.disk_attachments_service() attachment = next( (a for a in disk_attachments if a.disk.id == disk.id), None ) # Remove the attachment. The default behavior is that the disk is detached # from the virtual machine, but not deleted from the system. If you wish to # delete the disk, change the detach_only parameter to "False". attachment.remove(detach_only=True) print("Detached disk %s successfully!" % attachment) # Close the connection to the server: connection.close()
If the delete
or remove
request is successful, the examples output the text:
Detached disk vm1_disk1 successfully!
3.18. Starting a Virtual Machine
You can start a virtual machine.
Example 3.16. Starting a virtual machine
This example starts the virtual machine using the start
method.
V4
import time import ovirtsdk4 as sdk import ovirtsdk4.types as types connection = sdk.Connection( url='https://engine.example.com/ovirt-engine/api', username='admin@internal', password='password', ca_file='ca.pem', ) # Get the reference to the "vms" service: vms_service = connection.system_service().vms_service() # Find the virtual machine: vm = vms_service.list(search='name=vm1')[0] # Locate the service that manages the virtual machine, as that is where # the action methods are defined: vm_service = vms_service.vm_service(vm.id) # Call the "start" method of the service to start it: vm_service.start() # Wait until the virtual machine is up: while True: time.sleep(5) vm = vm_service.get() if vm.status == types.VmStatus.UP: break print("Started '%s'." % vm.name()) # Close the connection to the server: connection.close()
If the start
request is successful, the examples output the text:
Started 'vm1'.
The UP
status indicates that the virtual machine is running.
3.19. Starting a Virtual Machine with Overridden Parameters
You can start a virtual machine, overriding its default parameters.
Example 3.17. Starting a virtual machine with overridden parameters
This example boots a virtual machine with a Windows ISO and attach the virtio-win_x86.vfd
floppy disk, which contains Windows drivers. This action is equivalent to using the Run Once window in the Administration Portal to start a virtual machine.
V4
import time import ovirtsdk4 as sdk import ovirtsdk4.types as types connection = sdk.Connection( url='https://engine.example.com/ovirt-engine/api', username='admin@internal', password='password', ca_file='ca.pem', ) # Get the reference to the "vms" service: vms_service = connection.system_service().vms_service() # Find the virtual machine: vm = vms_service.list(search='name=vm1')[0] # Locate the service that manages the virtual machine: vm_service = vms_service.vm_service(vm.id) # Locate the service that manages the CDROM devices of the virtual machine: cdroms_service = vm_service.cdroms_service() # Get the first CDROM: cdrom = cdroms_service.list()[0] # Locate the service that manages the CDROM device found in previous step: cdrom_service = cdroms_service.cdrom_service(cdrom.id) # Change the CD of the VM to 'windows_example.iso': cdrom_service.update( cdrom=types.Cdrom( file=types.File( id='windows_example.iso' ), ), current=False, ) # Call the "start" method of the service to start it: vm_service.start( vm=types.Vm( os=types.OperatingSystem( boot=types.Boot( devices=[ types.BootDevice.CDROM, ] ) ), ) ) # Wait until the virtual machine's status is "UP": while True: time.sleep(5) vm = vm_service.get() if vm.status == types.VmStatus.UP: break print("Started '%s'." % vm.name()) # Close the connection to the server: connection.close()
The CD image and floppy disk file must be available to the virtual machine. See Uploading Images to a Data Storage Domain for details.
3.20. Starting a Virtual Machine with Cloud-Init
You can start a virtual machine with a specific configuration, using the Cloud-Init
tool.
Example 3.18. Starting a virtual machine with Cloud-Init
This example shows you how to start a virtual machine using the Cloud-Init tool to set a host name and a static IP for the eth0
interface.
V4
import ovirtsdk4 as sdk import ovirtsdk4.types as types connection = sdk.Connection( url='https://engine.example.com/ovirt-engine/api', username='admin@internal', password='password', ca_file='ca.pem', ) # Find the virtual machine: vms_service = connection.system_service().vms_service() vm = vms_service.list(search = 'name=vm1')[0] # Find the service that manages the virtual machine: vm_service = vms_service.vm_service(vm.id) # Start the virtual machine enabling cloud-init and providing the # password for the `root` user and the network configuration: vm_service.start( use_cloud_init=True, vm=types.Vm( initialization=types.Initialization( user_name='root', root_password='password', host_name='MyHost.example.com', nic_configurations=[ types.NicConfiguration( name='eth0', on_boot=True, boot_protocol=types.BootProtocol.STATIC, ip=types.Ip( version=types.IpVersion.V4, address='10.10.10.1', netmask='255.255.255.0', gateway='10.10.10.1' ) ) ) ) ) # Close the connection to the server: connection.close()
3.21. Checking System Events
Red Hat Virtualization Manager records and logs many system events. These event logs are accessible through the user interface, the system log files, and using the API. The ovirtsdk
library exposes events using the events
collection.
Example 3.19. Checking system events
In this example the events
collection is listed.
The query
parameter of the list
method is used to ensure that all available pages of results are returned. By default the list
method returns only the first page of results, which is 100
records in length.
The returned list is sorted in reverse chronological order, to display the events in the order in which they occurred.
V4
import ovirtsdk4 as sdk import ovirtsdk4.types as types connection = sdk.Connection( url='https://engine.example.com/ovirt-engine/api', username='admin@internal', password='password', ca_file='ca.pem', ) # Find the service that manages the collection of events: events_service = connection.system_service().events_service() page_number = 1 events = events_service.list(search='page %s' % page_number) while events: for event in events: print( "%s %s CODE %s - %s" % ( event.time, event.severity, event.code, event.description, ) ) page_number = page_number + 1 events = events_service.list(search='page %s' % page_number) # Close the connection to the server: connection.close()
These examples output events in the following format:
YYYY-MM-DD_T_HH:MM:SS NORMAL CODE 30 - User admin@internal logged in. YYYY-MM-DD_T_HH:MM:SS NORMAL CODE 153 - VM vm1 was started by admin@internal (Host: MyHost). YYYY-MM-DD_T_HH:MM:SS NORMAL CODE 30 - User admin@internal logged in.
Appendix A. Legal notice
Copyright © 2022 Red Hat, Inc.
Licensed under the (Creative Commons Attribution–ShareAlike 4.0 International License). Derived from documentation for the (oVirt Project). If you distribute this document or an adaptation of it, you must provide the URL for the original version.
Modified versions must remove all Red Hat trademarks.
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