VRA7.x Blueprint Cross-Environment Sharing: vRealize Cloud Client CLI Comes Into Rescue

What is vRealize Cloud Client?

vRealize CloudClient is a command-line utility that provides verb-based access with a unified interface across vRealize Automation APIs.

Browse the catalog and submit a request
Approve a catalog request
Manage provisioned machines
Create tenants and groups
Configure IaaS, including endpoints, data collection, and reservations
Manage catalog services and entitlements
Import and export blueprints and other content to human-readable format
Submit authenticated vRealize Automation API calls from the command line
Automate updates to VM reservations following SRM failover
Execute vRealize Orchestrator workflows

Using cloud client, you can export a blueprint from your environment in YAML format and then import it to another VRA enviroment. Dealing with infrastructure-as-code allows you to share your blueprint with others as well so that they can start from there rather than reinventing the wheel.

This post will demonstrate how to install cloud client and use it to export/import blueprints.

vRealize Cloud Client Installation

Although I am using a Windows client, Cloud client supports both Windows and Linux.

Export VRA Blueprint

Now the blueprint has been exported successfully. It is time to import it to the other VRA instance so that your blueprint is available in the new environment.

Import VRA Blueprint

Logon to the vRA appliance and vRA infrastructure server.
Import the blueprint using this command: CloudClient>vra content import –path <Exported Blueprint Zip file> –resolution OVERWRITE. I’m using the “Overwrite” resolution so that Cloud Client will overwrite conflicting items if they already exists.
You can view the imported blueprint from the VRA portal.