View source for Rackspace API/Cloud Block Storage

This article will show various examples and techniques for working with Rackspace's [http://www.rackspace.com/cloud/block-storage/ Cloud Cloud Block Storage] (CBS) RESTful API.

==HOWTO: boot from volume (BfV)==
In this section, I will show you how to boot from a [http://www.rackspace.com/cloud/block-storage/ Cloud Block Storage] (CBS) volume entirely using simple [http://docs.rackspace.com/ API calls] (via [[curl|cURL]]). This process is also known as "Boot from Volume" (BfV).

The examples in this article will do the following:

* Create a SATA CBS volume in DFW; and
* Boot a 1GB Performance-1 [http://www.rackspace.com/cloud/servers/ Cloud Server] from that CBS volume in DFW;

* Step #0: Setup your environment variables:
	
 $ ACCOUNT=012345
 $ USERNAME=myraxusername
 $ API_KEY=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
 $ REGION=dfw
 $ CBS_ENDPOINT=<nowiki>https://${REGION}.blockstorage.api.rackspacecloud.com/v1/${ACCOUNT}</nowiki>
 $ SERVERS_ENDPOINT=<nowiki> https://${REGION}.servers.api.rackspacecloud.com/v2/${ACCOUNT}</nowiki>
 $ IMAGE_ID="68d5cc64-cb68-4275-9ede-9b062f7be070" # CentOS 6.5
 $ FLAVOR="performance1-1"
 $ TOKEN=`curl -sXPOST <nowiki>https://identity.api.rackspacecloud.com/v2.0/tokens</nowiki> \
         -d'{"auth":{"RAX-KSKEY:apiKeyCredentials":{"username":"'$USERNAME'","apiKey":"'$API_KEY'"}}}' \
         -H"Content-type:application/json" | \
         python -c 'import sys,json;data=json.loads(sys.stdin.read());print data["access"]["token"]["id"]'`

* Step #1: Create a CBS volume in DFW:

 $ CBS_VOLUME_NAME="test-bfv-sata"
 $ CBS_VOLUME_TYPE="SATA"  # or, "SSD"
 $ CBS_VOLUME_SIZE=75 # i.e., 75GB, the smallest possible volume
 $ curl -iXPOST -H "X-Auth-Token: $TOKEN" \
        -H "Content-Type: application/json" -H "Accept: application/json" \
        "$CBS_ENDPOINT/volumes" \
        -d "{\"volume\": {\"display_name\": \"$CBS_VOLUME_NAME\", \"imageRef\": \"$IMAGE_ID\", \
             \"availability_zone\": null, \"volume_type\": \"$CBS_VOLUME_TYPE\", \
             \"display_description\": null, \"snapshot_id\": null, \"size\": $CBS_VOLUME_SIZE}}"

Watch the status of your CBS volume build until it goes from status "creating" to "active":
	
 $ CBS_VOLUME_ID=aaaaaaaa-bbbb-cccc-dddd-eeeeeeeeeeee # From output of last command
 $ curl -i -H "X-Auth-Token: $TOKEN" \
        -H "Content-Type: application/json" -H "Accept: application/json" \
        "$CBS_ENDPOINT/volumes/$CBS_VOLUME_ID"

* Step #2: Boot a Cloud Server (in DFW) from the above CBS volume:
	
 $ SERVER_ID=aaaaaaaa-bbbb-cccc-dddd-eeeeeeeeeeee # From output of last command
 $ curl -i -H "X-Auth-Token: $TOKEN" \
        -H "Content-Type: application/json" -X POST -H "Accept: application/json" \
        "$SERVERS_ENDPOINT/v2/$ACCOUNT/servers/$SERVER_ID"

That's it! You now have a Cloud Server that has been booted from a CBS volume.

===Links===

* [http://www.rackspace.com/blog/boot-rackspace-cloud-servers-from-a-cloud-block-storage-volume/ Boot Rackspace Cloud Servers From A Cloud Block Storage Volume]
* [http://www.rackspace.com/knowledge_center/article/boot-a-server-from-a-cloud-block-storage-volume Boot a server from a Cloud Block Storage volume]

==See also==
* [[Rackspace API]]

[[Category:Rackspace]]