Template export should allow keeping the existing `metadata.name`

[samuelfekete]

Proposal:
When creating a template using the export command it should optionally be possible to keep the exisiting metadata.name

Current behavior:
Every time export is used, new random names are generated. This causes resources to be destroyed if the template is then re-applied. It also changes the order of the resources in the yaml file, which makes it hard to track the changes in version control.

Desired behavior:
The export command has a flag that tells it to use the metadata name from the existing resources.

Alternatives considered:
Using a local script to change the names after running the export command.

Use case:
This would enable a no-code+infrastucture-as-code setup, where a user can make changes in the front end, and have those changes be automatically applied to a code base, that can then be used to deploy the changes idempotently to the same environment or to a new enviroment.

It would also allow templates to be modified using the UI only and exporting again, as only the changes made by the user would be changed in the export (and not the names).

[danxmoran]

This will require an API change before we can add support in the CLI.

[russorat]

I think the way to do this is with a stack.

If you maintain a set of resources as a stack with a stack id, then they will be exported with the same meta.names each time.

A stack is created automatically when you apply a template, or you can create one manually. See these docs for more details: https://docs.influxdata.com/influxdb/cloud/influxdb-templates/stacks/

[samuelfekete]

Thanks @russorat!

This works. And it's actually documented in the CLI docs https://docs.influxdata.com/influxdb/v2.0/reference/cli/influx/export/stack/, but I was reading the guide: https://docs.influxdata.com/influxdb/v2.0/influxdb-templates/create/