vApp and Vm elements include a number of action links. You can use these links to operate a vApp or one of its virtual machines by making requests such as power on, suspend, power off, undeploy, and so on.

Only those action links that are valid for the vApp or virtual machine in its current state are returned. For example, if a vApp is instantiated but not deployed, only the links for deploy and remove are returned. For a vApp that is powered on, links for all actions except powerOn are returned. Some requests apply only to vApps, some apply only to virtual machines (Vm objects), and some apply to both.

  • A request made to the power URL of a VApp invokes the requested operation on each of the virtual machines in the Children element of the VApp, in the order specified in its ovf:StartupSection element. This element, if present, specifies a start order and related properties for each member of a VirtualSystemCollection (each Vm contained by the Children element). If the element is not present, all members are started up at the same time. The same logic applies to shutdown, reboot, and similar operations.
  • A request made to the power URL of a Vm affects only that virtual machine.

Prerequisites

Verify that you are logged in as a vApp User or a role with an equivalent set of rights.

Procedure

  1. Retrieve the XML representation of the vApp to find the action links it contains.
    Use a request like this one: 
    GET https://vcloud.example.com/api/vApp/vapp-7
  2. POST a request to the URL that implements the desired action.
    Many of these requests do not require a body.

Results

The server takes the requested action and returns a Task element that tracks the progress of the request.