Activities

• Assign VM to VApp
• Connect to Citrix
• Disconnect from Citrix
• Eject Mounted Image
• Get All ISO VDIs
• Get Storage Capacity
• Get VM Storage
• Get VM Template
• Host Reboot
• Mount ISO to VM
• Network Adapters Get
• Restore VM to Snapshot
• Shutdown Host
• Snapshots List
• Take VM Snapshot
• VApp Create
• VApp Delete
• VIF Create
• VM Clone
• VM Create
• VM Create from Template
• VM Delete
• VM Edit Parameters
• VM Force Reboot
• VM Force Shutdown
• VM Get
• VM Get Status
• VM Start
• VM Suspend
• VM Template Exists
• VM Add Tag
• VM Object Export
• VM Remove Tag
• VMs Get
• VM Snapshot Delete
• VM XenServer Tools

Assign VM to VApp

This activity assigns a VM to a VApp (VM Applience).

Activity Parameters

The Assign VM to VApp activity parameters can be provided by manual inserted values or via IN arguments or variables:

Parameters:

• Connection (text box editor type) (type: string): the Citrix Host Session. The Output from Connect to Citrix activity should be used as Input here. 
• VApp Name (text box editor type) (type: string): the name of the VApp where the VM will be assigned to.
• VM Name (text box editor type) (type: string): the name of the VM which will be assigned to the given vApp.

The Read Only Output parameters block contains the possible output values that the activity will provide:

• Output Status (type: string): outputs the status of the command.

Execution: the activity will search for both the provided vApp and VM. If found, will assign the VM to the vApp:

The assignment can be seen in XenCenter under Pools -> Manage vApps:

Connect to Citrix XenServer

This activity connects to a Citrix XenServer Host.The Output of this activity should be used as Input for all Connection parameters used for all activities found under Citrix Xen Server category.

Activity Parameters

The Connect to Citrix XenServer activity parameters can be provided by manual inserted values or via IN arguments or variables:

Parameters:

• Hostname or IP (text box editor type) (type: string): the XenServer hostname or IP address of target machine - example: '10.201.0.65' or 'Citrix.example.local'. 
• Password (password box editor type) (type: string): the password for the username provided.
• Password Binding (text box editor type) (type: string): bind to a variable containing the encrypted password. (This parameter is used only when the user wants to send an encripted password from outside the workflow, for example Flowster Portal).
• Port (text box editor type) (type: string): the port of the Citrix Host - example: '80'.
• Username (text box editor type) (type: string): the username of the Citrix Host admin. In our example XenServer is installed on a Linux OS and the connection to it is made by using the root user.
• Reconnect Attempts (text box editor type) (type: Int32): enter the number of attempts to reconnect. By default 0.
• Reconnect Timeout (text box editor type) (type: Int32): enter the timeout value to reconnect in minutes. By default 0.

The Read Only Output variable are the possible output values that the activity will provide:

• Connection (type: object): outputs a Citrix XenServer connection. This parameter should be used as Input for the Output parameter of all activities under Citrix Xen Server directory.
• Output Master (type: string): outputs the Master Hostname if the connection didn't succeed with the specified "Hostname or IP" 
  
  

Disconnect from Citrix XenServer

This activity disconnects from Citrix Xen Server Host.

Activity Parameters

The Disconnect from Citrix Xen Server activity parameters can be provided by manual inserted values or via IN arguments or variables:

Parameters:

• Connection (text box editor type) (type: object): the Citrix Host Session. The Output from Connect to Citrix Xen Server activity should be used as Input here.

Eject Mounted Image

This activity ejects a mounted image from a specified VM.

Activity Parameters

The Eject Mounted Image activity parameters can be provided by manual inserted values or via IN arguments or variables:

Parameters:

• VM Name (text box editor type) (type: string): the name of the VM from which you wish to eject the ISO.
• VM UUID (text box editor type) (type: string): if this parameter is set, the VM shall be retrieved by this instead of the Name.

Using Get VM activity: Get VM activity can be used in order to extract the needed VM UUID. The steps below are describing a scenario of how to use both Get VM and Eject Mounted Image activity types:

• use a Get VM activity to extract the VM UUID:
  
  
  
  
• bind the obtained UUID (stored in a variable) to the VM UUID field from the Eject Mounted Image activity:
  
  

The eject ISO operation can be seen in XenCenter - select the VM and go on the Storage tab - there should be Empty in the DVD Drive 1 slot:

Get All ISO VDIs

This activity outputs a collection of VDI's whose names end in .iso.

Activity Parameters

The Get All ISO VDIs activity parameters can be provided by manual inserted values or via IN arguments or variables:

Parameters:

• Connection (text box editor type) (type: object): the Citrix Host Session. The Output from Connect to Citrix activity should be used as Input here.

The Read Only Output variable are the possible output values that the activity will provide:

• ISO Collection (type: collection<string>): this is an object of type Collection representing the list of all ISO on the given host session.

Execution: the activity will search for VDIs with .iso at the end of their names:

Get VM Template

This activity retrieves the templates matching the Name Label parameter from a given XenServer connection.

Activity Parameters

The Get VM Template activity parameters can be provided by manual inserted values or via IN arguments or variables:

Parameters:

• Folder Path (text box editor type) (type: string): the folder path where the template will be searched. This field should be used only if the template is stored into a folder, otherwise leave the field empty. If the template is stored in a folder and no folder path was provided as an input, the VMTemplateCount output will be 0.
• VM Template Name (text box editor type) (type: string): the name of the template to be retrieved.

The Read Only Output variable are the possible output values that the activity will provide:

• Count (type: int32): outputs the number of templates found.
• First VM Template UUID Found (type: string): outputs the UUID string of the first found VM.
• VM (type: collection<VM>): outputs an object of type Collection object.
• VM Template UUIDs Collection (type: collection<string>): outputs a collection of strings representing the found VMs' UUIDs.

Execution: the activity will search for the given template name and if found, will output the template's UUID:

Host Reboot

This activity reboots the Citrix Host where the Connect To XenServer activity is connected to.

Activity Parameters

The Host Reboot activity parameters can be provided by manual inserted values or via IN arguments or variables:

Parameters:

• Connection (text box editor type) (type: object): the Citrix Host Session. The Output from Connect to Citrix activity should be used as Input here.

Shutdown Host

This activity shuts down Citrix Host where the Connect To XenServer activity is connected to.

Activity Parameters

The Shut Down Host activity parameters can be provided by manual inserted values or via IN arguments or variables:

Parameters:

• Connection (text box editor type) (type: object): the Citrix Host Session. The Output from Connect to Citrix activity should be used as Input here.

Snapshots List

This activity lists snapshots of the Virtual Machine.

Activity Parameters

The Snapshots List activity parameters can be provided by manual inserted values or via IN arguments or variables:

Parameters:

• Folder Path (text box editor type) (type: string): the folder path where the VM will be searched. This field should be used only if the VM is stored into a folder, otherwise leave the field empty. If the VM is stored in a folder and no folder path was provided as an input, the output will be 0.
  
• Virtual Machine (text box editor type) (type: string): the virtual machine for which you want to retrieve the snapshots list.

The Read Only Output variable are the possible output values that the activity will provide:

• Output (type: collection>string>): outputs a collection containing the VM's snapshots names.To use the elements of the collection, use Get Element From Collection activity.
• Output Count (type: int32): outputs the count of returned snapshots.

Take VM Snapshot

This activity takes a snapshot of the selected Virtual Machine.

Activity Parameters

The Take VM Snapshot activity parameters can be provided by manual inserted values or via IN arguments or variables:

Parameters:

• Snapshot Name (text box editor type) (type: string): the name of the new snapshot.
• Virtual Machine (text box editor type) (type: string): the virtual machine name, for which the snapshot will be taken.

The Read Only Output variable are the possible output values that the activity will provide:

• Output Code (type: boolean): outputs code: false=fail, true=success.

Execution: the activity will create the given snapshot of the selected VM:

The created snapshot can be seen in XenCenter by selecting the VM and going to the Snapshots tab:

VApp Create

This activity creates a VApp (VM Appliance).

Activity Parameters

The VApp Create activity parameters can be provided by manual inserted values or via IN arguments or variables:

Parameters:

• Description (text box editor type) (type: string): the description of the new VApp.
• VApp Name (text box editor type) (type: string): the name of the new VApp .
   

The Read Only Output variable are the possible output values that the activity will provide:

• Output Status (type: boolean): outputs the status of the command.
• Output UUID (type: string): outputs the new VApp UUID.

Execution: the activity will create a new VApp on the provided XenServer, outputting a status (if the VApp was created or not) and the new VApp UUID (if the VApp was created): 

The new vApp can be seen in the Citrix XenCenter application (Pool → Manage vApps):

VApp Delete

This activity deletes a VApp (VM Applience).

Activity Parameters

The VApp Delete activity parameters can be provided by manual inserted values or via IN arguments or variables:

Parameters:

• Name (text box editor type) (type: string): the name of the new VApp to be deleted.

The Read Only Output variable are the possible output values that the activity will provide:

• Output Status (type: boolean): outputs the status of the command.

Execution: the activity will search for the given vApp and if found, it will delete it:

VIF Create

This activity creates a Virtual Network Interface on a Citrix hosted Virtual Machine.

Activity Parameters

The VIF Create activity parameters can be provided by manual inserted values or via IN arguments or variables:

Parameters:

• Device ID (text box editor type) (type: string): the Device ID of the Virtual NIC (Network Interface Card) - example: "0" (is the Device ID for the first Virtual Interface for a Virtual Machine).
• MAC Address (text box editor type) (type: string): the MAC address of the Virtual NIC (Optional) .
• Network UUID (text box editor type) (type: string): the Network UUID of the Virtual NIC - (to query the Network UUID's from Citrix use the xe command: "xe network-list").
• Virtual Machine UUID (text box editor type) (type: string): the UUID of the virtual machine - (to query the Virtual Machine UUID's from Citrix use the xe command: "xe vm-list"). This value can also be obtained by using a Get VM activity first.

VM Clone

This activity clones a virtual machine or an existing template on a Citrix hosted server.

Activity Parameters

The VM Clone activity parameters can be provided by manual inserted values or via IN arguments or variables:

Parameters:

• New VM Name (text box editor type) (type: string): the name of the new VM.
• VM Name (text box editor type) (type: string): the name of the VM to be cloned.

The Read Only Output variable are the possible output values that the activity will provide:

• Output Status (type: boolean): outputs the status of the command.
   

Execution: the activity will search for the VM given in the VM Name field. If found, will check its status (the VM needs to be stopped) and it will clone it, creating a new VM with the name given in the New VM Name field, with the same properties as the original VM:

The cloned VM can be seen in XenCenter application:

VM Create

This activity creates a virtual machine on a Citrix hosted server.

Activity Parameters

The VM Create activity parameters can be provided by manual inserted values or via IN arguments or variables:

Parameters:

• Memory (text box editor type) (type: int64): the amount of RAM memory in megabytes. The default value provided by Flowster Studio if 256, but it can be manually changed.
• Number of CPUs (text box editor type) (type: int64): the number of CPUs for the new VM (e.g. 2).
• Start VM Automatically (combo box control) (type: string): if set to Yes, the VM will be started after creation. Flowster Studio provides Yes (which is also the default option) and No as options.
• Storage Repository Type (combo box control) (type: string): the type of the storage repository where you wish the VM to be created. Flowster Studio provides LVM (Logical Volume Manager - virtual disk storage is made on a LVM-managed volume), NFS (Network File System storage) and First Available as options.
• VM Description (text box editor type) (type: string): the description of the VM to be created.
• VM Disk Size(text box editor type) (type: int64): the amount of disk storage to be assigned to the VDI in GB.
• VM Name (text box editor type) (type: string): the name of the VM to be created.

The Read Only Output variable are the possible output values that the activity will provide:

• Output VM (type: object): returns the created VM as an object of type object..
• Output VM UUID (type: string): outputs a string representing the VM's UUID.

Execution: the activity will create a new VM on the target XenServer machine, using the given input properties and outputting the newly created VM's UUID:

The new VM can be seen in XenCenter and is also started (the Yes option was chosen for the Start VM Automatically field):

VM Create from Template

This activity creates a virtual machine on a Citrix hosted server from a given template.

Activity Parameters

The VM Create from Template activity parameters can be provided by manual inserted values or via IN arguments or variables:

Parameters:

• Start VM Automatically (combo box control) (type: string): if set to Yes, the VM will be started after creation. Flowster Studio provides Yes (which is also the default option) and No as options.
• VM Name (text box editor type) (type: string): the name of the VM to be created.
• VM Template (text box editor type) (type: string): the name of the VM template to be used in creating the VM.

The Read Only Output variable are the possible output values that the activity will provide:

• Output VM (type: object): returns the created VM as an object of type object.
• Output VM UUID (type: string): outputs a string representing the VM's UUID.

Execution: the activity will create a new VM on the target XenServer machine, based on the given VM Template and outputting the newly created VM's UUID:

The new VM can be seen in XenCenter and is also started (the Yes option was chosen for the Start VM Automatically field). The new VM will be deployed in the same folder as the Template, if the template in stored in one (e.g. T_TestFolder2):

VM Delete

This activity deletes the VM matching the Name Label parameter from a given XenServer connection.

Activity Parameters

The VM Delete activity parameters can be provided by manual inserted values or via IN arguments or variables:

Parameters:

• VM Name (text box editor type) (type: string): the name of the VM to be deleted.
• VM UUID (text box editor type) (type: string): if this parameter is set, the VM shall be retrieved by this instead of the Name. This parameter can be bound to a Get VM activity's output.

The Read Only Output variable are the possible output values that the activity will provide:

• Output Status (type: boolean): outputs True if the operation succeeded otherwise False.

VM Edit Parameters

This activity edits the value of a VM's parameters.

Activity Parameters

The VM Edit Parameters activity parameters can be provided by manual inserted values or via IN arguments or variables:

Parameters:

• New VM Name (text box editor type) (type: string): the new name label for the VM. If you do not wish to edit it, leave the field empty.
• VM Description (text box editor type) (type: string): the new description for the given VM.
• VM Name (text box editor type) (type: string): the name of the VM to be edited.
• VM UUID (text box editor type) (type: string): if this parameter is set, the VM shall be retrieved by this instead of the Name.

Using Get VM activity: Get VM activity can be used in order to extract the needed VM UUID. The steps below are describing a scenario of how to use both Get VM and VM Edit Parameters activity types:

• use a Get VM activity to extract the VM UUID:
  
  
  
  
• bind the obtained UUID (stored in a variable) to the VM UUID field from the VM Edit Parameters activity:
  
  

The edited VM's information can be seen in XenCenter - select the VM and go on the General tab:

VM Force Shutdown

This activity forces a VM on Xen Server Host to power off.

Activity Parameters

The VM Force Shutdown activity parameters can be provided by manual inserted values or via IN arguments or variables:

Parameters:

• VM Name (text box editor type) (type: string): the name of the VM to be shutdown.
• VM UUID (text box editor type) (type: string): if this parameter is set, the VM shall be retrieved by this instead of the Name.
  
• Wait (combo box control) (type: string): if set to Yes, the workflow will wait for the operation to complete. If set to No, the activity will be completed immediately after requesting this operation.

Using Get VM activity: Get VM activity can be used in order to extract the needed VM UUID. The steps below are describing a scenario of how to use both Get VM and Force Shutdown VM activity types:

• use a Get VM activity to extract the VM UUID:
  
  
  
  
• bind the obtained UUID (stored in a variable) to the VM UUID field from the VM Force Shutdown activity:
  
  
  
  
  
  

VM Get

This activity retrieves the VM's matching the Name Label parameter from a given XenServer connection.

Activity Parameters

The VM Get activity parameters can be provided by manual inserted values or via IN arguments or variables:

Parameters:

• VM Name (text box editor type) (type: string): the name of the VM to be retrieved.

The Read Only Output variable are the possible output values that the activity will provide:

• Count (type: int32): outputs the number of VMs found.
• First VM UUID Found (type: string): outputs the UUID string of the first found VM.
• VM (type: collection<VM>): outputs an object of type Collection<XenApi.VM> object.
• VM UUIDs Collection (type: collection<string>): outputs a collection of strings representing the found VMs' UUIDs.

Execution: the activity will search on the XenServer after the given VM name. As an output, there will be the first UUID found, as well as lists with all the returned results and UUIDs (if multiple VMs are found):

VM Get Status

This activity retrieves the VM status. E.g. powered on/off.

Activity Parameters

The VM Get Status activity parameters can be provided by manual inserted values or via IN arguments or variables:

Parameters:

• VM Name (text box editor type) (type: string): the name of the VM to be retrieved.
• VM UUID (text box editor type) (type: string): if this parameter is set, the VM shall be retrieved by this instead of the Name

The Read Only Output variable are the possible output values that the activity will provide:

• Output Status (type: string): outputs the state of the VM.

Execution: the activity will output the state of the given VM:

Using Get VM activity: Get VM activity can be used in order to extract the needed VM UUID. The steps below are describing a scenario of how to use both Get VM and VM Get Status activity types:

• use a Get VM activity to extract the VM UUID:
  
  
  
  
• bind the obtained UUID (stored in a variable) to the VM UUID field from the VM Get Status activity:
  
  

VM Start

This activity starts the specified virtual machine.

Activity Parameters

The VM Start activity parameters can be provided by manual inserted values or via IN arguments or variables:

Parameters:

• VM Name (text box editor type) (type: string): the name of the VM to be started.
• VM UUID (text box editor type) (type: string): if this parameter is set, the VM shall be retrieved by this instead of the Name.

VM Suspend

This activity suspends the specified VM. Suspend stores the state of VM on disk, that is why the activity will search for PV (ParaVirtualized) drivers in order to perform the operation.

Activity Parameters

The VM Suspend activity parameters can be provided by manual inserted values or via IN arguments or variables:

Parameters:

• VM Name (text box editor type) (type: string): the name of the VM to be suspended.
• VM UUID (text box editor type) (type: string): if this parameter is set, the VM shall be retrieved by this instead of the Name.

VM Template Exists

This activity verifies if the specified virtual machine exists.

Activity Parameters

The VM Template Exists activity parameters can be provided by manual inserted values or via IN arguments or variables:

Parameters:

• VM Template Name (text box editor type) (type: string): the name of the template to be retrieved.
• VM Template UUID (text box editor type) (type: string): if this parameter is set, the VM template shall be retrieved by this instead of the Name

The Read Only Output variable are the possible output values that the activity will provide:

• Output (type: boolean): outputs 'True' if the specified VM template exists, otherwise 'False'.

Execution: the activity will search for the given Template and if found will output if it exists or not:

VM Snapshot Delete

This activity deletes a snapshot of the selected Virtual Machine.

Activity Parameters

The VM Snapshot Delete activity parameters can be provided by manual inserted values or via IN arguments or variables:

Parameters:

• Snapshot Name (text box editor type) (type: string): the name of the snapshot to be deleted.
• Virtual Machine (text box editor type) (type: string): the virtual machine name.

The Read Only Output variable are the possible output values that the activity will provide:

• Output (type: string): outputs the operation execution result message.
• Output Code (type: boolean): outputs the code as a bool: false=fail, true=success.

Execution: the activity will search for the given Snapshot and VM. If found, will delete the snapshot:

VM XenServer Tools

This activity retrives the xen tool information.

• VM XenServer Tools

Activity Parameters

The VM XenServer Tools activity parameters can be provided by manual inserted values or via IN arguments or variables:

Parameters:

• Connection (text box editor type) (type: string): Citrix Host Session. The Output from Citrix XenServer#Connect to Citrix acitivity should be used as Input here.
• VM Name (text box editor type) (type: string): Enter the VM name. You can use ListVMHosts activity in order to take VM Name.
• VM UUID (text box editor type) (type: string): Enter the VM UUID. This parameter takes precedence over VM Name and you can use ListVMHosts activity in order to take VM UUID.

The Read Only Output variable are the possible output values that the activity will provide:

• Output Virtualization State (type: string): outputs the result of virtualization state e.g Optimized, XenServer Tools not installed, Unknown. 
  
  

Note:

• if VM is shut down the state will be unknown.
  
  

Execution: :