Create an ESX Agency

You create an ESX agency by calling the EsxAgentManager.createAgency() method. You must specify ESX agent configurations for each version of ESX Server on which you deploy ESX agents.

When you call the EsxAgentManager.createAgency() method you must pass it an AgencyConfigInfo object and a string to define the initial goal state of the ESX agents that the agency deploys. The initialGoalState property informs ESX Agent Manager of the state in which to deploy ESX agent virtual machines when the solution first runs.

The EAM Sample Solution defines a function that creates an ESX agency in the AgentHandler.java class.

Prerequisites

Download the vSphere ESX Agent Manager SDK.
Verify that you have set up and started the EAM Sample Solution in an application server.
Verify that you have opened eam_work_folder\src\com\vmware\eam\sample\solution\AgentHandler.java in an editor.

Procedure

Establish a connection to the ESX Agent Manager running in vCenter Server.

The AgentHandler.java implements the EamConnection.java class from the EAM Sample Solution to connect to vCenter Server and ESX Agent Manager.

public void setup(EamConnection eamConnection) {
 assert eamConnection != null;
 _eamConnection = eamConnection;

  ManagedObjectReference eamRef = _eamConnection.getEsxAgentManager();
  EamPortType stub = _eamConnection.getStub();

  [...]
}

Create an ESX agency by calling the EsxAgentManager.createAgency() method.

The AgentHandler.java class checks whether any ESX agencies are already running, and if not calls the EsxAgentManager.createAgency() method. AgentHandler.java passes to the EsxAgentManager.createAgency() method the ManagedObjectReference object for the ESX Agent Manager instance running in vCenter Server, eamRef. AgentHandler.java also passes to createAgency() the AgencyConfigInfo object that defines the configuration of the ESX agency.. The AgentHandler.java class sets the initial goal state of the ESX agency to ENABLED.

public void setup(EamConnection eamConnection) {
 assert eamConnection != null;
 _eamConnection = eamConnection;

  ManagedObjectReference eamRef = _eamConnection.getEsxAgentManager();
  EamPortType stub = _eamConnection.getStub();
  try { 
    List<ManagedObjectReference> agencyRefs = stub.queryAgency(eamRef);
    if (agencyRefs != null && agencyRefs.size() > 0) {
         _agency = agencyRefs.get(0);
    } else { 
      _agency = stub.createAgency(eamRef,
                                  _agencyConfigInfo,
                                  EamObjectRuntimeInfoGoalState.ENABLED.toString()
                                  .toLowerCase()); 
    }
[...]
}

Call the Agency.queryConfig() method to verify the configuration of the ESX agency and report any issues with the configuration.

public void setup(EamConnection eamConnection) {
    [...]  
    _agencyConfigInfo = stub.queryConfig(_agency);
    _isSetup = true; 
  } catch (RuntimeFaultFaultMsg e) {
     _log.error(e, e);
  } catch (InvalidAgencyScopeFaultMsg e) {
     _log.error(e, e); 
  } catch (InvalidAgentConfigurationFaultMsg e) {
     _log.error(e, e); 
  } catch (InvalidUrlFaultMsg e) {
     _log.error(e, e); 
  } 
}

Call the Agency.agencyQueryRuntime() method to return the status of the ESX agency.
The Agency.agencyQueryRuntime() method returns an EamObjectRuntimeInfo object that contains the goal state of the agency, its current status, and a list of any problems that the agency has encountered.
```
public EamObjectRuntimeInfo getRuntime() throws RuntimeFaultFaultMsg {
    waitForSetup();
    return _eamConnection.getStub().agencyQueryRuntime(_agency);
}
```

Results

You created an ESX agency that a solution can deploy on ESXi hosts.