5.1
Table Of Contents
- vCloud API Programming Guide
- Contents
- vCloud API Programming Guide
- About the VMware vCloud API
- Hello vCloud: A Simplified RESTful Workflow
- Exploring a Cloud
- Summary of vCloud API Browsing Requests
- Retrieve the Login URL and List of Supported API Versions
- Create a Login Session Using the Integrated Identity Provider
- Retrieve a List of Organizations Accessible to You
- Retrieve an Administrative View of a Cloud
- Retrieve a List of vSphere Platform Operations and Objects for a Cloud
- Provisioning an Organization
- Summary of vCloud API Provisioning Requests
- Upload an OVF Package to Create a vApp Template
- Download a vApp Template as OVF
- Upload a Media Image
- Copying and Moving with the vCloud API
- Capturing and Importing vApps
- Cataloging vApp Templates and Media Images
- Creating and Using Independent Disks
- View or Change the Owner of an Object
- Deploying and Operating vApps
- Summary of vCloud API vApp and Virtual Machine Operations Requests
- Create a vApp From a Template
- Compose a vApp From Existing Virtual Machines
- Recompose a vApp to Add or Remove Virtual Machines
- Provide User Input Requested by a Virtual Machine
- Attach or Detach an Independent Disk
- Creating and Using vApp Snapshots
- Operate a vApp
- Configuring vApps and Virtual Machines
- Retrieve the Configuration Links for a vApp
- Retrieve the Configuration Links for a Virtual Machine
- Update Multiple Sections of a Virtual Machine
- Retrieve or Update a Modifiable Section
- Update a vApp Network Configuration
- Update the NetworkConnectionSection of a Virtual Machine
- Retrieve or Modify the CPU Configuration of a Virtual Machine
- Retrieve or Modify the GuestCustomizationSection of a Virtual Machine
- Retrieve or Modify ProductSection Elements
- Retrieve or Modify Groups of Related Sections in a Virtual Machine
- Retrieve or Modify the Hard Disk Configuration of a Virtual Machine
- Update the Storage Profile for a Virtual Machine
- Creating and Managing Organizations
- Summary of Administrative Requests
- Administrator Credentials and Privileges
- Organization Administration
- vDC Administration
- Network Administration
- Catalog Administration
- User and Group Administration
- Working With Roles and Rights
- Controlling Access to vApps and Catalogs
- Managing and Monitoring a Cloud
- Summary of vSphere Platform Extension Requests
- Retrieve or Update System Settings
- Attach a vCenter Server
- Finding Available vCenter Resources
- Create a Provider vDC
- Create an External Network
- Create a Network Pool
- Import a Virtual Machine from vCenter
- Relocate a Virtual Machine to a Different Datastore
- Truststore and Keytab Maintenance
- Retrieve the vSphere URL of an Object
- Working With Object Metadata
- Using the Query Service
- Configuring and Using Blocking Tasks and Notifications
- vCloud Director Extension Services
- XML Representations in the vCloud API
- Index
Retrieve an Object as an Entity
You can use the vCloud API entity resolver with an object's id attribute value to retrieve a context-free reference
to the object.
Every first-class object that the vCloud API defines includes an id attribute whose value is the object identifier
expressed in URN format. The value of the id attribute uniquely identifies the object, persists for the life of the
object, and is never reused.
You can append the value of the id attribute to the vCloud API entityResolver URL to retrieve a context-free
representation of the underlying object as an Entity element.
Prerequisites
Verify that you are logged in to the vCloud API as a system administrator or member of an organization in
the cloud.
Procedure
1 Retrieve the current Session object to get the entityResolver URL.
Use a request like this one:
GET https://vcloud.example.com/api/session
The response is a Session element like the one shown in “Example: Create a Login Session Using the
Integrated Identity Provider,” on page 45. The Session element contains the entityResolver URL in the
href of the Link element in this excerpt.
<Session ... >
...
<Link
rel="entityResolver"
type="application/vnd.vmware.vcloud.entity+xml"
href="https://vcloud.example.com/api/entity/" />
</Session>
2 Append the value of the object's id attribute to the entityResolver URL.
3 Make a GET request to the URL you created in Step 2
See the request portion of “Example: Using the entityResolver URL,” on page 312.
Example: Using the entityResolver URL
This example retrieves the Vapp object shown in the excerpt “Example: Object id, type, and href Attributes,”
on page 12 as an Entity.
Request:
GET https://vcloud.example.com/api/entity/urn:vcloud:vapp:490af534-1491-452e-8ed6-a5eb54447dac
Response:
<Entity
xmlns="http://www.vmware.com/vcloud/v1.5"
id="urn:vcloud:vapp:490af534-1491-452e-8ed6-a5eb54447dac"
name="urn:vcloud:vapp:490af534-1491-452e-8ed6-a5eb54447dac"
type="application/vnd.vmware.vcloud.entity+xml"
href="https://vcloud.example.com/api/entity/urn:vcloud:vapp:490af534-1491-452e-8ed6-
a5eb54447dac"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" ...>
vCloud API Programming Guide
312 VMware, Inc.