BK Cloud API · Documentation for Customers

Version 1.2.1, 2025-09-29

Introduction

The BK Cloud API is a remote procedure call (RPC) mechanism available to customers of Bradler & Krantz. It enables the customers to create, manage and delete virtual servers in the BK Cloud datacenters. API procedures (‘API functions’) are implemented on top of the HTTPS protocol. The API Server URL is

Each API function call uses the HTTP POST method. Its message body consists of a sequence of named data elements:

  • username: The API Key
  • password: The API Password associated with the API Key
  • action: The name of the API function
  • data: The arguments to the API function

Please use the BK Manager (customer portal)

to activate/deactivate your API Key and also to set the API Password.

The data item is expected as YAML encoded dictionary (map) of named arguments to the API function. The API Server responds with an ISO-8859-1 (latin1) encoded YAML marshaled dictionary containing the items

  • status having value success or failed,
  • in case of failure error contains an error message in English language, and
  • a return value from the implementation of the API function.

The tool cli-adm can be used to explore the Cloud API function from the linux command line. It can be downloaded from

A PHP implementation of the Cloud API client is available at

Concepts

Each virtual server runs on a host node. The host nodes are located in one of a bunch of datacenters. One or more datacenters form a zone. At the present time there are the following zones:

zid zname location
1 de-dus2 Düsseldorf, Germany, EU
2 nl-ams1 Amsterdam, The Netherlands, EU
4 us-dal1 Dallas, Texas, USA
5 uk-lon1 London, UK
6 lt-sqq Siauliai, Lithuania
7 md-kiv Chisinau, Moldovia

Only Virtual servers within the same zone may communicate via a private network.

The product plans available for reselling are named “flavors”. Currently there are the following flavors:

fid Flavor fid Flavor
1 Cloud-30 16 Cloud-500
2 Cloud-50 21 Storage-500
3 Cloud-100 22 Storage-750
4 UltraKVM-15 23 Storage-1000
5 UltraKVM-30 24 Storage-Special
6 UltraKVM-50 25 Storage-2000
7 UltraKVM-75 26 Storage-5000
8 UltraKVM-100 27 Storage-10000
10 UltraKVM-200 28 Storage-7500
11 UltraKVM-250 29 Storage-Special-2
13 UltraKVM-500    
14 Cloud-200    
15 Cloud-300    

When a vserver is going to be created or re-installed an initial operating system must be chosen. The following images are available

iid symname iname
1 CENTOS-6 centos-6 20150811 linux 2015-08-11T13:37:40Z
2 CENTOS-7 centos-7 20150630 linux 2015-06-30T15:44:09Z
3 UBUNTU-15.04 ubuntu-certified-15.04 20150807 2015-08-08T04:06:41Z
4 UBUNTU-12.04 ubuntu-certified-12.04 20150709 linux 2015-07-09T02:44:19Z
5 DEBIAN-8 20150702 linux 2015-07-02T15:37:02Z
6 DEBIAN-7 20150702 linux 2015-07-02T15:34:37Z
7 FEDORA-22 fedora-22 20151015 linux 2015-10-15
8 UBUNTU-15.10 ubuntu-certified-15.10 20160315 linux 2016-03-15
9 UBUNTU-14.04 ubuntu-certified-14.04 20160314 linux 2016-03-14
10 UBUNTU-16.04 ubuntu-certified-16.04 20160922
11 CENTOS-7 centos-7 20170327 linux zvol 2017-03-27
: : :
52 DEBIAN-11 Debian Linux 11 64-bit
53 DEBIAN-12 Debian Linux 12 64-bit
54 UBUNTU-20.04 Ubuntu Linux 20.04 64-bit
56 UBUNTU-24.04 Ubuntu Linux 24.04 64-bit
58 ROCKY-9 RockyLinux 9 64-bit
59 ROCKY-8 RockyLinux 8 64-bit (latest)
61 ROCKY-9 RockyLinux 9 64-bit 20250929t0539

API functions (‘actions’)

  • accounts_list

    Lists all accounts of the current customer.

  • actions_available

    Lists all available Cloud API functions.

  • bootimages_list

    Lists all available bootimages.

  • flavors_list

    Lists all available flavors (commonly known as ‘plans’ or ‘products’).

  • images_list

    Lists all operating system images for vserver installation or reinstallation.

  • update_reverse_dns_name_of_ip4 and update_reverse_dns_name_of_ip6

    Arguments:

    • address: the address for which a PTR RR shall be registered in the DNS.
    • rdns: The requested reverse name of the address

  • update_reverse_dns_name_of_primary_ip4

    Arguments:

    • vid: vserver id whose primary IPv4 address shall get a new PTR RR.
    • rdns: The requested reverse name.

  • vserver_add

    Arguments:

    • fid: Flavor ID
    • zid: Zone ID
    • one of iid and symname: Image ID or Symbolic Name of the OS Image. The use of iid is discouraged in favor of symname.
    • hostname
    • rootpw
    • sshkeys (optional)
    • custom_script (optional): Will be executed on the server after its first boot
    • motd (optional): URL to load /etc/motd

  • vserver_change_hostname

    Arguments:

    • vid
    • hostname

  • vserver_delete:

    Irrevocably removes the server and all its data from the BK Cloud.

    Arguments:

    Variant 1:

    • vid

    Variant 2:

    • cid: Client ID
    • primaryip

  • vserver_increase_transfer_volume:

    Increases the available transfer volume for the current month by 1 TiB (2⁴⁰ B = 1,099,511,627,776 B).

    Arguments:

    • vid

  • vserver_info

    Arguments:

    • vid

  • vserver_reboot

    Arguments:

    • vid
    • force_mode (optional)

  • vserver_reinstall

    Arguments:

    • vid
    • rootpw
    • sshkeys (optional)
    • iid
    • motd (optional): URL to load /etc/motd

  • vserver_rescue:

    Boots the Server into the rescue system.

    Arguments:

    • vid
    • force_mode (optional)
    • biid (optional) Boot Image ID (cf. bootimages_list)

  • vserver_rootpassword

    Arguments:

    • vid
    • rootpw

  • vserver_shutdown

    Arguments:

    • vid
    • force_mode (optional)

  • vserver_vncinfo

    Returns the responsible vncproxy and credentials for WebVNC.

    Arguments:

    • vid

  • vservers_list:

    Lists all vservers of the current customer.

  • zones_list

    Lists all Zones