Use the ZEDEDA ZCLI to Manage an Edge Application Instance

Updated

Introduction

This article covers topics such as how to manage edge application instances through the ZCLI to view, activate, reactivate, deactivate, purge & update, create snapshots, and delete. 

This is a series of articles. You will likely follow them in this order.

  1. Edge Application Overview
  2. Manage an Edge App Image
  3. Manage an Edge Application
  4. Deploy an Application Instance
  5. Manage an Edge Application Instance
  6. Use the ZEDEDA CLI to Manage an Edge Application Instance - You are here!

Prerequisites

Create an Edge App Instance

zcli edge-app-instance create <name> --edge-app=<edge-app-name> (--edge-node=<edge-node> | --edge-node-cluster=<edge-node-cluster>) [--title=<title>] [--description=<description>] [--start-delay=<delay>] [--tags=<key:value>...] [--local-profile-server-override=<val>] [--network-instance=<network-instance>...] [--network-tag=<key:value>...] [--adapter=<name>...] [--adapter-tag=<key:value>...] [--custom-configuration=<cloud-config>] [--api-version=<api-version>]
Example
zcli edge-app-instance create MY-APP-INST --edge-app=MY-EDGE-APP --edge-node=MY-EDGE-NODE

View an Edge App Instance

zcli edge-app-instance show [--api-version=<api-version>] [[[<name> | --uuid=<uuid>] [--detail]] | [[--edge-app=<edge-app>] [--edge-node=<edge-node> | --edge-node-cluster=<edge-node-cluster>] [--summary] [--name-pattern=<name-pattern>] [--page-size=<page-size>] [--project=<project>] [--state=<state>] [--tags=<key:value>]]]
Example: all edge app instances
zcli edge-app-instance show
Example response: 
Edge App Instance	Edge App 	Edge Node	Admin State	Run State
MY-APP-INST	MY-EDGE-APP	MY-EDGE-NODE	Active	Unknown
Total: 198 App Instance Summary: Error : 4  Init : 0  Online : 20  Other : 3  Suspect : 103  Unknown : 68 

Total: 198 App instance summary count by app type: APP_TYPE_CONTAINER : 121  APP_TYPE_DOCKER_COMPOSE : 3  APP_TYPE_MODULE : 0  APP_TYPE_UNSPECIFIED : 0  APP_TYPE_VM : 74  APP_TYPE_VM_RUNTIME : 0  Other : 0
Example: one edge app instance
zcli edge-app-instance show MY-APP-INST
Example response: 
Edge app Instance Name: MY-APP-INST
Edge app Instance Title: MY-APP-INST
Tags: 
Edge App Name: MY-EDGE-APP
Edge Node: MY-EDGE-NODE
Admin State: Active
Run State: Unknown
CPUs: 1
Memory: 524288
Created at:  Fri May 02 2025 09:58:20 PM  Last Config update:  Fri May 02 2025 09:58:20 PM

Delete an Edge App Instance

After you add an edge app instance, you can delete it if you no longer need it. If you don’t use the -f option, you’ll be prompted to confirm. 

zcli edge-app-instance delete <name> [--api-version=<api-version>] [-f]
Example
zcli edge-app-instance delete MY-APP-INST -f

Start an Edge App Instance

After you add an edge app instance, you can activate an edge app instance when it is deployed but not automatically activated. 

zcli edge-app-instance start <name> [--api-version=<api-version>]
Example
zli edge-app-instance start MY-APP-INST

Stop an Edge App Instance

You can stop the edge app instance from running in the edge node and it can’t be accessed until you reactivate it. Deactivating the edge app instance can stop the entire application deployed on an edge node. This does not just stop containers but the entire edge app instance.

zcli edge-app-instance stop <name> [--api-version=<api-version>]
Example
zcli edge-app-instance stop MY-APP-INST

Restart an Edge App Instance

After you stop an edge app instance, you can restart it. 

zcli edge-app-instance restart <name> [--api-version=<api-version>]
Example
zcli edge-app-instance restart MY-APP-INST

Refresh an Edge App Instance

Refresh to update an edge application instance to the latest version of the edge application. This operation will result in a restart of the edge application instance. 

Refresh and purge an edge application instance to update an edge application instance to the latest version of the edge application and purge return to the initial state and start fresh. This operation will result in loss of data and a restart of the edge application instance.

zcli edge-app-instance refresh <name> [--purge] [--api-version=<api-version>]
Example: refresh
zcli edge-app-instance refresh MY-APP-INST
Example: refresh & purge
zcli edge-app-instance refresh MY-APP-INST --purge

Update an Edge App Instance

The usual pattern to update an edge application bundle record is to retrieve the record and update it with the modified values in a new body to update the edge application bundle record. 

zcli edge-app-instance update <name> [--title=<title>] [--description=<description>] [--tags=<key:value>...] [--local-profile-server-override=<val>] [--start-delay=<delay>] [--network-instance=<network-instance>...] [--network-tag=<key:value>...] [--adapter=<name>...] [--adapter-tag=<key:value>...] [--api-version=<api-version>]
Example
zcli edge-app-instance update MY-APP-INST --description=MY-NEW-DESCRIPTION

Create a Patch Envelope for an Edge App Instance

See Patch Envelope for how to create, attach, or detach a patch envelope.

Create a Snapshot for an Edge App Instance

If your edge device has the capability, you can take backups of your edge app instance even if it is air-gapped or offline for long periods of time. 

  • If you don’t use the -f option, you’ll be prompted to confirm.
  • If you use the -f option, you won’t see the error if your device doesn’t support it: “The related device doesn't support immediate snapshots.”
zcli edge-app-instance snapshot-create --app-instance=<name> [-f]
Example
zcli edge-app-instance snapshot-create --app-instance=MY-APP-INST

View a Snapshot for an Edge App Instance

After you create a snapshot, you can view it.

zcli edge-app-instance snapshot-show [<snapshot-name>] --app-instance=<name>
Example: all snapshots of one app instance
zcli edge-app-instance snapshot-show --app-instance=MY-APP-INST
Example response: 
Edge App Snapshot       Edge App Instance State   Activate Immediate
----------------------- ----------------- ------- -------- ---------
SNAPSHOT-20250502221806 MY-APP-INST       INVALID False    False
Example: one snapshot
Use the response that you get from the “all snapshots” example to find the name of your edge app instance snapshot. 
zcli edge-app-instance snapshot-show SNAPSHOT-20250502221806 --app-instance=MY-APP-INST

Activate a Snapshot for an Edge App Instance

Use the response that you get from the View command “all snapshots” example to find the name of your edge app snapshot.

zcli edge-app-instance snapshot-activate <snapshot-name> --app-instance=<name>
Example
zcli edge-app-instance snapshot-activate SNAPSHOT-20250502221806 --app-instance=MY-APP-INST

Delete a Snapshot for an Edge App Instance

Use the response that you get from the View command “all snapshots” example to find the name of your edge app snapshot.

zcli edge-app-instance snapshot-delete <snapshot-name> --app-instance=<name>
Example
zcli edge-app-instance snapshot-delete SNAPSHOT-20250502221806 --app-instance=MY-APP-INST

Next Steps

This is a series of articles. You will likely follow them in this order.

  1. Edge Application Overview
  2. Manage an Edge App Image
  3. Manage an Edge Application
  4. Deploy an Application Instance
  5. Manage an Edge Application Instance
  6. Use the ZEDEDA CLI to Manage an Edge Application Instance - You are here!
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