6.0

vSphere Web Services SDK Programming Guide
10 VMware, Inc.
 Batch files and shell scripts (run.bat and run.sh) that facilitate running the Java samples from the
Windows command prompt.
 The vSphere API Reference, which provides language-neutral descriptive information about the
VMware vSphere API and the object model, such as object type definitions, properties, and method
signatures.
Complete information about setting up the environment, and about generating, compiling, and running
applications is included in Chapter 2, “Setting Up for Java Development,” on page 11, and in Chapter 3,
“Setting Up for Microsoft C# Development,” on page 17.
SDK Versions and VMware vSphere Product Compatibility
VMware has released SDK products to support various versions of the VMware vSphere product family. You
can use the VMware vSphere Web Services SDK 6.0 with many previous versions of VMware vSphere servers
and its predecessor, VMware Infrastructure, including:
 ESX/ESXi 6.0, 5.5, 5.1, and 5.0
 ESX/ESXi 4.1 and 4.0
 ESX/ESXi 3.5 Update 5
 vCenter Server 6.0, 5.5, 5.1, 5.0, 4.1, 4.0
 VirtualCenter Server 2.5 Update 5
All versions are supported by using the appropriate WSDL files, as follows:
 SDK\vsphere-ws\wsdl\vim25 contains WSDL files for use with ESXi 5, ESX/ESXi 4, vCenter Server 5,
vCenter Server 4, ESX 3.5, and VirtualCenter 2.5 systems. As of vSphere 4.1, the vSphere API WSDL
definitions are divided into several files. Backwards compatibility is achieved because both WSDL
configurations (vim25 and vim directories) use a top level file with the same name (vimService.wsdl).
The VMware vSphere API is a Web service that runs on VMware vSphere servers, including ESX, ESXi, and
vCenter Server. The API exposed is the same in all products. However, vCenter Server provides the following
capabilities which are not available through an ESX or ESXi Web service:
 Collecting historical performance data
 Optimizing resources, including managing distributed resources
 Enabling migration from one host system to another by using VMware vMotion
 Providing distributed resource management, including recovery, across all host systems under its control
If you attempt to invoke an operation on an ESX or ESXi system that is supported only on vCenter Server, the
server returns a fault saying “not implemented” or “not supported.” For example, the ExtensionManager API
is available only on VirtualCenter Server 2.5 and subsequent releases of vCenter Server. Attempting to register
an extension to an ESX system returns a fault, “not supported.”