Download a RackSpace Server Image

I needed to download one of my Rackspace cloud backup images to my computer for use with VirtualBox. I assumed I would be able to simply download it, but to my surprise, that´s not possible. Rackspace suggested I use their API and their "getting started" tutorial, and upvote the request to add direct image download as a Rackspace feature, which I did.

NOTE: Be aware that, at least with a CentOS 7 Cloud Server, the image you download with the following method is ONLY compatible with XenServer, a Type 1 Hypervisor. It simply did not work with VirtualBox. I saw one report that you can load it with VirtualBox, but Rackspace themselves says it will not work and suggests this method instead.

I got my Rackspace cloud API token, and used curl from my Rackspace server to do the following:

• Get export endpoint (which is based on your server region) and authentication token using these docs. The export endpoint is the "cloudImages" "publicURL", and the authentication token is the "access" "token" "id".
  curl -X POST https://auth.api.rackspacecloud.com/v2.0/tokens -d '{ "auth":{ "RAX-KSKEY:apiKeyCredentials":{ "username":"RACKSPACE_USER_NAME", "apiKey":"API_TOKEN" } } }' -H "Content-type: application/json" |python -m json.tool
• Export your account and authentication token (NOT your API token).
  export account="RACKSPACE_USER_NAME"
  export token="AUTHENTICATION_TOKEN"
• Combine your endpoint URL with the calls from this article to get your list of images.
  curl -s https://lon.images.api.rackspacecloud.com/v2/images -H "X-Auth-Token: $token" |python -m json.tool
• Asynchronously export the image your interested in (check the "image" "name" field to find the one you want) by using the image "id" and the name of you Cloud Files container. If you don't have a Cloud Files container (I didn't), you have to sign up for it to get exported images.
  curl -s https://lon.images.api.rackspacecloud.com/v2/tasks -X POST -d '{"type": "export","input":{"image_uuid": "IMAGE_ID","receiving_swift_container": "YOUR_CLOUD_FILE_CONTAINER"}}' -H "Content-Type: application/json" -H "X-Auth-Token: $token" |python -m json.tool
• You can now simply wait for your image to appear in your cloud file container, or you can actively check the status of you export job by using the id returned by the export command.
  curl -s https://lon.images.api.rackspacecloud.com/v2/tasks/EXPORT_JOB_ID -H "X-Auth-Token: $token" |python -m json.tool
• If all goes well, you can pick up your image from the cloud file container. Mine took about 5 to 10 minutes to appear.