5.5
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 or vApp Template as OVF
- Upload a Media Image
- Download a Media Image
- Capturing and Importing vApps
- Managing Catalog Items
- Creating and Using Independent Disks
- View or Change the Owner of an Object
- Controlling Access to vApps and Catalogs
- Deploying and Operating vApps
- Summary of vCloud API vApp and Virtual Machine Operations Requests
- Create a vApp From a Template
- Create a vApp From an OVF Package
- Compose a vApp From Existing Virtual Machines
- Recompose a vApp to Add or Remove Virtual Machines
- Clone a vApp
- Capture a vApp as a Template
- Update vApp Access Controls
- 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
- Managing and Monitoring a Cloud
- Summary of System Administration 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
Table 12‑1. Length Limits on Element and Attribute String Values (Continued)
Object Element or Attribute Name Maximum Length in Characters
VApp name
128
VApp Description
256
VAppTemplate name
128
VAppTemplate Description
256
Vdc name
256
Vdc Description
256
Vm name
128
Vm ComputerName
15 on Windows, 63 on all other platforms
API Versioning
vCloud API schema version information appears in the values of the xsi:schemaLocation and xmlns
attributes in a response document. For example, a response body that used schema version 1.5 would
include the following attributes:
xmlns="http://www.vmware.com/vcloud/v1.5"
xsi:schemaLocation="https://vcloud.example.com/api/v1.5/schema/master.xsd"
To discover the API versions that a server supports, a client can make an unauthenticated GET request to a
well-known URL on the server, as shown in “Example: Versions Request and Response,” on page 43.
NOTE Starting with API version 1.5, all vCloud API requests are processed in the
http://www.vmware.com/vcloud/v1.5 XML namespace. Treatment of version-specific elements and attributes
in requests is controlled by the value of the Accept header. For example, this Accept header specifies that the
request body is presumed to be valid for vCloud API version 5.5 and a version 5.5 response is expected:
Accept: application/*+xml;version=5.5
Requests are validated against the elements and attributes defined in the specified version. Responses are
filtered to remove elements and attributes that are not defined in the specified version. In general, client
requests can access objects defined by any version of the vCloud API that is less than or equal to the version
specified in the Accept header. Exceptions to this rule are mentioned in the vCloud Director Release Notes.
The vCloud API Schema Reference indicates the deprecation status of elements and attributes, and also
indicates when each element or attribute was added to the API. See “About the Schema Reference,” on
page 22.
Extensibility
The vCloud API provides complete programmatic access to the vCloud Director Extension Services facility
described at Chapter 11, “vCloud Director Extension Services,” on page 329.
In addition, there is a more general extensibility mechanism, VCloudExtension, that clients are free to use.
VCloudExtensibleType is an abstract type that all complex types defined in the vCloud API namespace
extend. It can contain an arbitrary number of elements and attributes, and provides a way for you to add
custom attributes and elements to any type.
The VCloudExtension element has an attribute named required that specifies how clients and servers
proceed when they see an unknown extension. All VCloudExtension elements are assumed to require a
server that understands them. The required attribute is optional, but if omitted is assumed to be present
with a value of true. This extensibility mechanism allows new servers to extend the XML representations
native to the vCloud API without requiring existing clients to understand those extensions.
vCloud API Programming Guide
358 VMware, Inc.