New VMC API to rename SDDC

A commonly requested feature in VMware Cloud on AWS (VMC) is the ability to rename an SDDC. Currently, it is not possible to rename an SDDC after it has been deployed. On Friday, an update was made to the VMC Service to introduce a new VMC API (Tech Preview) that will allow customers to rename their SDDC. The API is just the first step and our UI folks are already working on adding this natively to the VMC UI which I actually got a sneak peak of just a few days ago.

UPDATE (02/11/19) - The ability to rename an SDDC is now also available within the VMC Console UI, so you can use either UI or API to perform this operation.

The new SDDC rename API is very straight forward to use, you simply perform a PATCH operation the specific SDDC /orgs/{orgID}/sddcs/{sddcID} which includes a payload containing the updated name. Below are three ways in which you can easily rename your SDDC, including a UI method for those that want to quickly rename an SDDC and not have to write a single line of code.

Option 1: VMC API Explorer

Within the VMC UI, you can actually use the API Explorer which provides customers with a graphical view of all VMC and related APIs, but you can even execute operations within your SDDC without having to write a single line of code.

Step 1 - Navigate to the API Explorer by clicking on the "Developer Center"

Step 2 - On the left hand side, select the SDDC you wish to rename

Step 3 - Expand the SDDCs category and find the "Patch SDDC" API as shown in the screen above and then click on "Try it out"

Step 4 - Click on the Body request link on the right which will automatically populate the sample request and you can add the desired name as shown in the screenshot above

Step 5 - Click on the "Execute" button which will run the API to rename your SDDC

Option 2: VMC PowerShell Community Module

I have also updated my VMC PowerShell Module to include a new Set-VMCSDDC function to easily rename an SDDC.

Step 1 - Download and Import the VMC PowerShell Community Module

Step 2 - Run the Set-VMCSDDC function which accepts the current name of the SDDC, the Org name and finally the new name for your SDDC

Set-VMCSDDC -SDDC $SDDCName -OrgName $OrgName -Name $NewSDDCName

Option 3: cURL 

Finally, for those that wish to interact with the VMC REST API, I have also created a quick shell script that uses cURL to demonstrate how the API works.

Step 1 - Download the rename_sddc.sh shell script

Step 2 - Run the script and pass in your CSP Refresh Token, OrgId, SDDCId and the new name of your SDDC as shown in the screenshot below:

./rename_sddc.sh $REFRESH_TOKEN $ORGID $SDDCID $NEW_SDDC_NAME