This is a text-only version of the following page on https://raymii.org:
---
Title : Openstack Glance Image Download, download Openstack images
Author : Remy van Elst
Date : 25-02-2015
URL : https://raymii.org/s/tutorials/Openstack_Glance_Image_Download.html
Format : Markdown/HTML
---
This guide shows you how download Openstack Images to your local machine using
the command line Glance client. You can use this, for example, to download a
copy of an image created from a VM, or to download the images your Openstack
provider provides and adapt those.
You can see all my [Openstack related articles here][1]. For example, how to use
[Duplicity to create Encrypted backups to the Openstack Swift Object Store][2]
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### Command Line tools
Make sure you have the Openstack command line tools installed. Follow the
official openstack guide [here][4]. If you have `pip` installed you can use that
to install the tools:
pip install python-novaclient
pip install python-cinderclient
pip install python-glanceclient
pip install python-keystoneclient
pip install python-neutronclient
pip install python-swiftclient
Save yourself some time and create a file named `computerc` with the below
contents:
export OS_AUTH_URL="https://identity.stack.cloudvps.com/v2.0"
export OS_TENANT_NAME=""
export OS_USERNAME=""
export OS_PASSWORD=""
export OS_TENANT_ID=""
When you are going to do stuff with the Openstack command line clients, load
this file:
source computerc
That way, your authentication data are loaded and you don't have to give
parameters like `--os-username` and such.
### Openstack Overview
Openstack is a datacenter virtualization plaform consisting out of many
different tools and services. Here is a short overview of the different services
you might encounter.
#### Compute (Nova)
This is the virtualization service. It works with a hypervisor to create and
manage virtual machines. You can create a VM based on a specific "Flavour",
which is just a definition of specs like disk, cpu and ram.
#### Block Storage (Cinder)
This is the service which makes block devices (volumes) available to services. A
flavour can not be changed, just resized. If you want extra storage you need to
create a volume, attach it to the VM and mount it there for use.
#### Images (Glance)
This is the service which holds all the images. Images can be used to boot a VM
from. Images can be prepared with tools like `cloud-init` to make them behave
better in a cloud environment, for example, setting an SSH key or password at
boot.
### Listing images
When you've created a `computerc` file and loaded it up in your shell you can
start the process. You need the UUID of the image you want to download. Get a
list of all images using the `glance image-list` command:
$ glance image-list
Output:
+------------+---------------------+--------+-----------+------------+--------+
| ID | Name | Disk | Container | Size | Status |
+------------+---------------------+--------+-----------+------------+--------+
| 0a[...]5dd | example-test | raw | bare | 4843700224 | active |
| 13[...]b30 | example-2 | qcow2 | bare | 4762632192 | active |
| 22[...]eeb | FreeBSD-10.1 | qcow2 | bare | 736981504 | active |
| d2[...]625 | pfSense 2.1.5 | iso | bare | 403243008 | active |
+------------+---------------------+--------+-----------+------------+--------+
The `ID` part is what you need. In this example it is trimmed.
### Download Image
Use the `glance image-download` command to download the image. By default it
will go to STDOUT, use the `--file` parameter to place the output in a file.
$ glance image-download --file ./example-test.img 0a[...]5dd
The command syntax is:
$ glance image-download --file $FILENAME $UUID
If you get the following error:
object of type 'generator' has no len()
Try executing the command without the `--progress` option.
[1]: https://raymii.org/s/tags/openstack.html
[2]: https://raymii.org/s/tutorials/Encrypted_Duplicity_Backups_to_Openstack_Swift_Objectstore.html
[3]: https://www.digitalocean.com/?refcode=7435ae6b8212
[4]: http://docs.openstack.org/user-guide/content/install_clients.html
---
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