Introduction

Simplification of administration and its related overhead is a strategic imperative that most companies are mandating. Although programmatic automation has existed in the Windows and Linux operating systems for some time now, getting a complete solution for system management and automation often requires purchasing expensive third-party, proprietary software that was difficult to learn and sometimes suffered from compatibility issues. Fortunately, VMware has incorporated a variety of interfaces that you can take advantage of to simplify the management of your virtual infrastructure. In this chapter, we will discuss the available APIs and SDKs as they apply to the following VMware products and versions:

• VMware ESX Server 3.0 and 2.5.x

• VMware Server and VMware GSX Server 2.x or later

• VMware VirtualCenter 2.0 and 1.x

So, without further ado, let s jump into scripting and programming techniques for VMware ESX, VMware Server, and VMware VirtualCenter. To help you establish a firm foundation in writing code for VMware products, we will discuss several techniques and technologies in this chapter, specifically:

• VMware scripting APIs

• VMware VirtualCenter SDK

• Other VMware SDKs

VMware Scripting APIs

With the release of the VMware scripting application programming interfaces (APIs), VMware has been offering two components that you can use to develop custom code to manage your VMware ESX, VMware GSX, and VMware Server hosts directly: VmCOM and VmPerl. These APIs have no dependency on any other VMware product, such as VirtualCenter, and are available for use as quickly as you can download them from...