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Table Of Contents
- vCloud API Programming Guide
- Contents
- About This Book
- Introducing the VMware vCloud API
- Hello vCloud: A Structured REST Workflow Example
- Logging In and Getting an Organization List
- Browsing an Organization
- Finding a vApp Template
- Getting Information About a vDC
- Instantiating the Template in the vDC
- Deploying and Powering On the vApp
- Getting Information About the vApp
- Displaying the Console
- Deleting the vApp
- Logging Out
- Moving on to Additional Use Cases
- Browsing
- Provisioning
- Summary of Provisioning Requests
- Upload OVF to Create a vApp Template
- View the OVF Descriptor of a vApp Template
- Download a vApp Template as OVF
- Upload a Media Image
- Copying and Moving
- Changing a Name or Description
- Delete a vAppTemplate, vApp, or Media Image
- Cataloging vApp Templates and Media Images
- Controlling Access
- Datacenter Operations
- Summary of Datacenter Operations Requests
- vApp Lifecycle
- Instantiate a vApp Template
- Compose a vApp
- Recompose a vApp to Add or Remove Virtual Machines
- Capture a vApp to Create a vApp Template
- Reconfiguring vApps and Virtual Machines
- Deploying and Controlling vApps and Virtual Machines
- Deploy a vApp or Virtual Machine
- Undeploy a vApp or Virtual Machine
- Power On a vApp or Virtual Machine
- Power Off a vApp or Virtual Machine
- Reset a vApp or Virtual Machine
- Suspend a vApp or Virtual Machine
- Discard the Suspended State of a vApp or Virtual Machine
- Shut Down a vApp or Virtual Machine
- Reboot a vApp or Virtual Machine
- List Media Devices of a Virtual Machine
- Insert Media Into a Virtual Machine
- Eject Media from a Virtual Machine
- Get a Screen Thumbnail for a Virtual Machine
- Get a Screen Ticket for a Virtual Machine
- Provide User Input Requested by a Virtual Machine
- Control Access to vApps
- Retrieve a Task
- Administrative Operations
- VMware vSphere Platform Operations
- Summary of vSphere Platform Operations Requests
- List vSphere Platform Operations and Objects for a vCloud
- List Provider vDCs in a vCloud
- List External Networks in a vCloud
- List Network Pools in a vCloud
- List vCenter Servers Registered to a vCloud
- List ESX/ESXi Hosts in a vCloud
- Create a Provider vDC
- Create an External Network
- Create a Network Pool
- Import a Virtual Machine from vCenter
- XML Representations in the vCloud API
- User API Reference
- Request Parameters Reference
- Administrative API Reference
- vSphere Platform Extensions Reference
- OVF and the vCloud API
- An Introduction to REST for vCloud API Users
- Index
vCloud API Programming Guide
18 VMware, Inc.
Allrequiredelementsmustappearinrequestbodies.Allelementsthatappearinrequestbodiesmust
appearintheorderestablishedbytheschema,andwithcontentthatconformstothetypeconstraint
specifiedintheschema.See“SchemaValidation”onpage 142.
Authentication
HTTPcommunicationsbetweenavCloudclientandserveraretypicallysecuredwithSSL.Inaddition,the
vCloudAPIimplementsBasicHTTPAuthentication,asdefinedbyRFC2617,whichenablesaclienttoobtain
atokenthatitcanusetoauthenticateindividualHTTPrequests.
Toobtainanduseanauthenticationtoken,
aclientmustfirstdiscovertheserver’sloginURL,andthenPOST
aloginrequesttothatURL,supplyingthecredentialsofanauthorizeduser.
To obtain and use an authentication token
1MakeanAPIversionrequesttoavCloudservicetoobtaintheloginURLforthatservice.Formore
information,see“A P I Versioning”onpage 147.
2Make
anHTTPPOSTrequesttotheloginURL,asshowninExample 2‐1onpage 21.
Iftheauthenticationheaderismissing,theserverreturnsHTTPresponsecode401.
Ifthecredentialssuppliedintheauthenticationheaderareinvalid,theserverreturnsHTTPresponse
code401.
Iftherequestissuccessful,theserverreturnsHTTPresponsecode200(OK)andheadersthatinclude
anauthorizationheaderoftheform:
x-vcloud-authorization:
token
ThisheadermustbeincludedineachsubsequentvCloudAPIrequest.
TheresponsebodyisanOrgListelement,whichisalistofallorganizationsthattheusercanaccess.
Theauthenticationtokenexpiresafteraconfigurableintervalofclientinactivity.Thedefaultis30minutesafter
thetokeniscreated.After
thetokenexpires,allrequestsfailwithHTTPresponsecode401untiltheclientlogs
inagaintoobtainanewtoken.
Responses
AllresponsesincludeanHTTPstatuscodeand,unlessthestatuscodeis204(NoContent),aContent‐Type
header.Responsecontentdependsontherequest.Someresponsesincludeadocumentbody,someinclude
onlyaURL,andsomeareempty.
Status Codes
Table 1‐2liststhesubsetofHTTPstatuscodesthatavCloudAPIclientcanexpectinaresponse.
N
OTECertainadministrativeoperationshavespecialauthenticationrequirements.Formoreinformation,see
“AdministratorCredentialsandPrivileges”onpage 93.
Table 1-2. HTTP Status Codes Returned by the vCloud API
Status Code Status Description
200OK Therequestisvalidandwascompleted.Theresponseincludesadocumentbody.
201Created Therequestisvalid.TherequestedobjectwascreatedandcanbefoundattheURLspecifiedin
theLocationheader.
202Accepted Therequestisvalidandataskwascreatedtohandleit.Thisresponse
isusuallyaccompanied
byataskURL.
204NoContent Therequestisvalidandwascompleted.Theresponsedoesnotincludeabody.
303SeeOther TheresponsetotherequestcanbefoundattheURLspecifiedintheLocationheader .
400BadRequest Therequestbodyismalformed,incomplete,or
otherwiseinvalid.