Working with the Registry and API

How to work with the Anka Registry and API

Anka registry provides an easy way to store, version, and distribute macOS VMs that are used for CI and development. Once you’ve completed creation and setup of your VMs, use anka registry command to work with the registry.

Store your build and test VM templates in the registry.
Then, you can pull them, modify them and push them again with a different tag to the Registry. This way you can maintain versions. Pull specific VM template and tag to a different machine running Anka package.

Registry operations are available through Anka Client command line and through Registry REST APIs.

Working with registry using Anka CLI

View all of the available registry commands by running anka registry --help.

> anka registry --help
usage: registry [options] <command>

   Configure and control template registries

options:
  -r,--remote <val>        Sets an alternate registry
  --insecure               Skip TLS verification
  --cert <val>             Path to a client certificate (if user authentication is configured)
  --key <val>              Path to private key if the client certificate doesn't contain one
  --cacert <val>           Use custom CA certificates location (default is /etc/ssl/certs)
  --api-key-id <val>       TAP identity
  --api-key <val>          TAP key in PEM form

commands:
  list-repos               List registries configured
  add                      Add a registry
  set                      Set default registry
  remove                   Remove a registry from the configuration
  list                     List templates in registry (see anka-push/pull commands)
  show                     Show a template's properties
  revert                   Delete a template or tag

Add registry to a Node/machine running Anka

anka registry add <givesomename> <registryURLwithport>

You can add/define multiple registries to a node. The last one added is treated as current. To change current use the set command.

Set Current registry

anka registry set <previouslydefiniedname>

Push VM to the Registry

anka registry push -d <description> -t <tag> {vmNameOrUUID}

Pull VM from the Registry

anka registry pull -t <tag> {vmNameOrUUID}

Pull VM from the Registry with Shrink

anka registry pull -s -t <tag> {vmNameOrUUID}

For example, let’s say you have V1, V2 tags in the Registry for a VM. You pull V2. Then, you pull V1 with -s flag. It will optimize the local disk space usage by deleting all V2 related tag/version files.

Push independent VM as new tag of existing VM in Registry

anka registry push NEW_VM -v EXISTING_VM_IN_REGISTRY -t NEW_TAG

For example, let’s say you have a VM1, with latest tag t2. Now, you want to push a completely independent VM2 as the next tag to VM1. You will use anka registry push VM2 -v VM1 -t NEW_TAG.

List VMs in the Registry

anka registry list

REST API

Status

❯ curl -s http://anka.registry:8089/registry/status                                                    
{"status":"OK","body":{"status":"Running","version":"1.13.0-24e848a5"},"message":""}

List VMS v1 (Deprecated)

Description: List all VMs stored in the Registry.
Path: /registry/vm
Method: GET
Optional Query Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
id	string	Return a specific Template. Passing this parameter will show more information about the Template’s tags.

Returns:

Status: Operation Result (OK|FAIL)
Body: List of VM objects. If id supplied, also returns list of tags (“versions”)..
message: Error message in case of an error

Template Object format

{UUID}: {Template Name}

CURL Example

# List example

❯ curl -s http://anka.registry:8089/registry/vm | jq
{
  "status": "OK",
  "body": [
    {
      "5d1b40b9-7e68-4807-a290-c59c66e926b4": "12.4-gitlab"
    },
    {
      "b6e96ed0-6d0f-4152-a97c-944553b3c35b": "12.4-openjdk-11.0.14.1"
    },
    {
      "c0847bc9-5d2d-4dbc-ba6a-240f7ff08032": "12.4-openjdk-11.0.14.1-jenkins"
    },
    {
      "c12ccfa5-8757-411e-9505-128190e9854e": "12.4"
    }
  ],
  "message": ""
}

# Get Single Template 

❯ curl -s http://anka.registry:8089/registry/vm\?id\=c12ccfa5-8757-411e-9505-128190e9854e | jq
{
  "status": "OK",
  "body": {
    "id": "c12ccfa5-8757-411e-9505-128190e9854e",
    "name": "12.4",
    "versions": [
      {
        "number": 0,
        "tag": "vanilla",
        "config_file": "c12ccfa5-8757-411e-9505-128190e9854e.yaml",
        "nvram": "nvram",
        "images": [
          "113eb088112f4b0c9d28197590058301.ank"
        ],
        "state_files": [],
        "description": "",
        "state_file": "",
        "size": 19490295808,
        "arch": ""
      },
      {
        "number": 1,
        "tag": "vanilla+port-forward-22",
        "config_file": "c12ccfa5-8757-411e-9505-128190e9854e.yaml",
        "nvram": "nvram",
        "images": [
          "113eb088112f4b0c9d28197590058301.ank"
        ],
        "state_files": [],
        "description": "",
        "state_file": "",
        "size": 19490295808,
        "arch": ""
      },
      {
        "number": 2,
        "tag": "vanilla+port-forward-22+brew-git",
        "config_file": "c12ccfa5-8757-411e-9505-128190e9854e.yaml",
        "nvram": "nvram",
        "images": [
          "c92b6575b4ed40bb825ad6e0903519dc.ank",
          "113eb088112f4b0c9d28197590058301.ank"
        ],
        "state_files": [],
        "description": "",
        "state_file": "",
        "size": 22706692096,
        "arch": ""
      }
    ],
    "size": 22706692096,
    "arch": "amd64"
  },
  "message": ""
}

List VMS v2

Note
This is a new API introduced in version 1.7.0

Description: List all VMs stored in the Registry.
Path: /registry/v2/vm
Method: GET
Optional Query Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
id	string	Return a specific Template. Passing this parameter will show more information about the Template’s tags

Returns:

Status: Operation Result (OK|FAIL)
Body: List of VM objects. If id supplied, also returns list of tags (“versions”)..
message: Error message in case of an error

Template format

name: Template’s name
id: Template’s id
size: Total size of all Template’s files on the registry in bytes
versions: Array of Version objects.

Version format

tag: The version’s tag
number: Serial number of the version
description: The version’s description
images: List of image file names
state_files: List of state file names (suspend images)
config_file: Name of the version’s VM config file
nvram: Name of the VM nvram file
size: Total size of all version’s files on registry in bytes.

CURL Example

# List example

curl -s http://anka.registry:8089/registry/v2/vm | jq                          {
  "status": "OK",
  "body": [
    {
      "id": "c12ccfa5-8757-411e-9505-128190e9854e",
      "name": "11.6.0",
      "size": 21024776192
    }
  ],
  "message": ""
}


# Get Single Template 

curl -s "http://anka.registry:8089/registry/v2/vm?id=c12ccfa5-8757-411e-9505-128190e9854e" | jq
{
  "status": "OK",
  "body": {
    "id": "c12ccfa5-8757-411e-9505-128190e9854e",
    "name": "11.6.0",
    ("versions").[
      {
        "number": 0,
        "tag": "vanilla",
        "config_file": "c12ccfa5-8757-411e-9505-128190e9854e.yaml",
        "nvram": "nvram",
        "images": [
          "6e45c8998fab41d9bbf4a6a6975efda0.ank"
        ],
        "state_files": null,
        "description": "",
        "state_file": "",
        "size": 18645143552
      },
      {
        "number": 1,
        "tag": "vanilla+port-forward-22",
        "config_file": "c12ccfa5-8757-411e-9505-128190e9854e.yaml",
        "nvram": "nvram",
        "images": [
          "6e45c8998fab41d9bbf4a6a6975efda0.ank"
        ],
        "state_files": null,
        "description": "",
        "state_file": "",
        "size": 18645143552
      },
      {
        "number": 2,
        "tag": "vanilla+port-forward-22+brew-git",
        "config_file": "c12ccfa5-8757-411e-9505-128190e9854e.yaml",
        "nvram": "nvram",
        "images": [
          "732787cd099d47e2bcd429f93ba57613.ank",
          "6e45c8998fab41d9bbf4a6a6975efda0.ank"
        ],
        "state_files": null,
        "description": "",
        "state_file": "",
        "size": 21024776192
      }
    ],
    "size": 21024776192
  },
  "message": ""
}

Delete VM

Description: Delete a specific VM and all associated tags
Path: /registry/vm
Method: DELETE
Required Query Parameters:

Parameter	Type	Description
id	string	The Template’s id.

Returns:

Status: Operation Result (OK|FAIL)
message: Error message in case of an error

CURL Example

curl -X DELETE "http://anka.registry.net:8089/registry/vm?id=00510971-5c37-4a60-a9c6-ea185397d9b4" 

{
   "status":"OK",
   "body": null,
   "message":""
}

Get VM Configuration

Description: Show vm configuration file for a specific version or tag (or latest if none specified) of a VM template
Path: /registry/vm/info
Method: GET
Required Query Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
id	string	Return the VM with that ID.

Optional Query Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description	Default
tag	string	The specific Tag to get info for	Latest
version	int	The number of the version to get info for, 0 indexed	Latest

Returns:

Status: Operation Result (OK|FAIL)
Body: VM configuration object
message: Error message in case of an error

Object format

name: Name of the Template
ram: Amount of virtual RAM the VM has
hard_drives: Array of hard drives
usb: USB info
uuid: Id of the vm
network_cards: A list of network cards, with port forwarding rules
firmware: VM’s firmware
state_file: Name of state file (suspend image)
nvram: Path of nvram file
version: VM configuration version (internally used)
cpu: Number of virtual CPU cores
display: VM’s display

CURL Example

curl "http://anka.registry.net:8089/registry/vm/info?id=2fa0f10e-e91e-4665-8d42-00a39b9707de"

{
   "message" : "",
   "status" : "OK",
   "body" : {
      "nvram" : true,
      "state_file" : "668e52df4d454f0fbc14cc69a15c5006.ank",
      "display" : {
         "frame_buffer" : {
            "height" : 768,
            "pci_slot" : 29,
            "vnc_ip" : "0.0.0.0",
            "width" : 1024,
            "password" : "admin"
         }
      },
      "version" : 1,
      "usb" : {
         "pci_slot" : 7,
         "host" : 0,
         "tablet" : 1
      },
      "network_cards" : [
         {
            "mode" : "shared",
            "pci_slot" : 28,
            "mac_address" : "56:45:45:3c:db:02",
            "port_forwarding_rules" : [
               {
                  "host_port" : 0,
                  "protocol" : "tcp",
                  "rule_name" : "ssh1",
                  "guest_port" : 22,
                  "host_ip" : "0"
               }
            ]
         }
      ],
      "hard_drives" : [
         {
            "pci_slot" : 4,
            "controller" : "ablk",
            "file" : "239bb374545141ceb481d495ec01683e.ank"
         }
      ],
      "cpu" : {
         "cores" : 2
      },
      "name" : "appium-base",
      "ram" : "2G",
      "uuid" : "2fa0f10e-e91e-4665-8d42-00a39b9707de",
      "firmware" : {
         "type" : "uefi"
      }
   }
}

Revert

Reverting is a potentially dangerous operation. It will revert all tags which came AFTER the one you’re targeting. We recommend a multi-template-single-tag approach instead to avoid this.

Description: Revert a VM to a certain Tag or version number. Delete the latest version if none is specified.
Path: /registry/revert
Method: DELETE
Required Query Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
id	string	The Template id.

Optional Data Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description	Default
tag	string	The Tag to revert to. Newer versions will also be deleted	Latest
version	int	The number of the version to revert to, 0 indexed	Latest

Returns:

Status: Operation Result (OK|FAIL)
message: Error message in case of an error

CURL Example

# Delete latest version

curl -X DELETE  "http://anka.registry.net:8089/registry/revert?id=00510971-5c37-4a60-a9c6-ea185397d9b4"

{
   "body" : null,
   "message" : "",
   "status" : "OK"
}

# Revert to the first version of the template

curl -X DELETE  "http://anka.registry.net:8089/registry/revert?id=a3cc47f0-3a73-11e9-b515-c4b301c47c6b&number=0" 

{
   "status" : "OK",
   "body" : null,
   "message" : ""
}

# Revert to a specific Tag

❯ curl -X DELETE  "http://anka.registry:8089/registry/revert?id=aff190a4-9871-4fb7-b909-73742f0fbdbe" -d '{"tag": "vanilla+port-forward-22+brew-git"}'
{"status":"OK","body":null,"message":""}

Set Template Arch

Description: Set the template’s arch manually.
Path: /registry/vm/arch
Method: PUT

Required Data Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description	Default
id	string	The Template id.	-
arch	string	The architecture (“arm64” or “amd64”)	-

Returns:

Status: Operation Result (OK|FAIL)
message: Error message in case of an error

CURL Example


❯ curl -s http://10.8.1.10:8089/registry/vm\?id\=0e1660cb-632f-4748-8a0d-ce82ae6bcd25 | jq
{
 "status": "OK",
 "body": {
   "id": "0e1660cb-632f-4748-8a0d-ce82ae6bcd25",
   "name": "12.1.0",
   ("versions").[
     {
       "number": 0,
       "tag": "vanilla+addons",
       "config_file": "0e1660cb-632f-4748-8a0d-ce82ae6bcd25.yaml",
       "nvram": "nvram",
       "images": [
         "7180b240cfc8434299212b8fc06c3f04.ank"
       ],
       "state_files": [],
       "description": "",
       "state_file": "",
       "size": 19425398784,
       "arch": ""
     }
   ],
   "size": 19425398784,
   "arch": "amd64"
 },
 "message": ""
}

❯ curl -X PUT http://10.8.1.10:8089/registry/vm/arch -d '{"id": "0e1660cb-632f-4748-8a0d-ce82ae6bcd25", "arch": "arm64"}'
{"status":"OK","body":null,"message":""}


❯ curl -s http://10.8.1.10:8089/registry/vm\?id\=0e1660cb-632f-4748-8a0d-ce82ae6bcd25 | jq
{
 "status": "OK",
 "body": {
   "id": "0e1660cb-632f-4748-8a0d-ce82ae6bcd25",
   "name": "12.1.0",
   ("versions").[
     {
       "number": 0,
       "tag": "vanilla+addons",
       "config_file": "0e1660cb-632f-4748-8a0d-ce82ae6bcd25.yaml",
       "nvram": "nvram",
       "images": [
         "7180b240cfc8434299212b8fc06c3f04.ank"
       ],
       "state_files": [],
       "description": "",
       "state_file": "",
       "size": 19425398784,
       "arch": ""
     }
   ],
   "size": 19425398784,
   "arch": "arm64"
 },
 "message": ""
}

User Key Management

Get Key

Description: Display information about api key[s]
Path: /v1/apikey
Method: GET

Query Parameters:

Parameter	Type	Description	Default
id	string	Return only information about a specific ID (optional)	-

Returns:

status: Operation Result (OK|FAIL)
message: Error message in case of an error
body: JSON returned from API

❯ curl -sH "Authorization: Basic $(echo -ne "root:1111111111" | base64)" http://anka.registry:8089/v1/apikey | jq
{
  "status": "OK",
  "message": "",
  "body": [
    {
      "id": "developer1",
      "groups": [
        "testgroup"
      ],
      "expiration": "2021-09-21T14:35:08.823236-04:00",
      "created": "2021-09-20T14:35:08.823236-04:00"
    },
    {
      "id": "developer2",
      "groups": [
        "testgroup",
        "testgroup2"
      ],
      "expiration": "2021-09-21T14:39:00.526148-04:00",
      "created": "2021-09-20T14:39:00.526148-04:00"
    },
    {
      "id": "nathan",
      "groups": [
        "testgroup"
      ],
      "expiration": "2021-09-21T14:31:11.364844-04:00",
      "created": "2021-09-20T14:31:11.364845-04:00"
    }
  ]
}

Create Key

Description: Create user key
Path: /v1/apikey
Method: POST

Query Parameters:

Parameter	Type	Description	Default
id	string	Set the id/name of the key (required)	-
ttl	int	Set the TTL (time to live) seconds of the key (required)	-
groups	string array	List of group names for the key (required)	-
publicKey	string	If supplied, it is expected to be in PKIX ASN.1 DER form (optional)	-

If no publicKey is passed in, we will generate and store it on the server.

Returns:

status: Operation Result (OK|FAIL)
message: Error message in case of an error
body: JSON returned from API

❯ curl -X POST -sH "Authorization: Basic $(echo -ne "root:1111111111" | base64)" http://anka.registry:8089/v1/apikey -d '{ "id": "nathan", "ttl": 86400, "groups": ["g1"] }'
{"status":"OK","message":"","body":"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 . . .

Update Key

Description: Update an existing key
Path: /v1/apikey
Method: PUT

Query Parameters:

Parameter	Type	Description	Default
id	string	The id/name of the key (required)	-
ttl	int	The TTL (time to live) seconds for the key (optional)	-
groups	string	Comma separated list of group names for the key (optional)	-

You cannot change the publicKey.

Returns:

status: Operation Result (OK|FAIL)
message: Error message in case of an error

❯ curl -X PUT -sH "Authorization: Basic $(echo -ne "root:1111111111" | base64)" http://anka.registry:8089/v1/apikey -d '{ "id": "nathan", "groups": ["test1","test3"] }'
{"status":"OK","message":""}

Delete Key

Description: Delete an existing key
Path: /v1/apikey
Method: DELETE

Query Parameters:

Parameter	Type	Description	Default
id	string	The id/name of the key (required)	-

Returns:

status: Operation Result (OK|FAIL)
message: Error message in case of an error

❯ curl -X DELETE -sH "Authorization: Basic $(echo -ne "root:1111111111" | base64)" http://anka.registry:8089/v1/apikey -d '{ "id": "nathan" }'
{"status":"OK","message":""}