Extending the Service Layer with Custom Components

The Web Client SDK provides several ways to extend the service layer. Each kind of extension is best suited for certain functions.

• To manage back-end operations in the service layer, you create custom Java plug-ins, which can be of two kinds:

  • Plug-ins that implement REST services that act on behalf of user interface plug-ins written in HTML.

  • Plug-ins that implement custom RPC interfaces on behalf of Flex proxy components.

• To retrieve data from vCenter Server or from external sources, you create custom data adapters in Java. Your data adapters can be of two kinds:

  • Property Provider Adapters can retrieve data from vSphere managed objects.

  • Data Provider Adapters can retrieve data from external sources as well as vSphere managed objects.