About This Book

The vSphere Web Services SDK Programming Guide provides information about developing applications using the VMware® vSphere Web Services SDK.

VMware provides different APIs and SDKs for various applications and goals. The vSphere Web Services SDK targets developers who create client applications for managing VMware® vSphere components available on VMware ESXi and VMware vCenter Server systems.

To view the current version of this book as well as all VMware API and SDK documentation, go to http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs/sdk_pubs.html.

Revision History

This book is revised with each release of the product or when necessary. A revised version can contain minor or major changes. The following table summarizes the significant changes in each version of this book.

Table 1. Revision History
Revision Date Description
05 DEC 2022 Minor cleanup.
06 OCT 2020

vSphere 7.0 Update 1

  • In Inventory Traversal and Object Selection, add best practice to destroy PropertyCollector views after use.
  • In Task Monitoring Example Using the ListView Object, cross-reference information about chunking of results from PropertyCollector.
  • At VMware, we value inclusion. To foster this principle within our customer, partner, and internal community, we are replacing some of the terminology in our content. We have updated this guide to remove instances of non-inclusive language.
02APR2020

vSphere 7.0

Added scalable shares feature. Reworked and expanded fixed shares and other resource anagement material.

Added Virtual Machine Guest Operations chapter, including guest customization for instant clone virtual machines.
20AUG2019

vSphere 6.7 Update 3

Bug fixes. Added section on crypto key query for VM encryption.

16OCT2018

vSphere 6.7 Update 1

Added section on Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI) clusters.

17APR2018

vSphere 6.7 - GA

Added Instant Clone material to VM Management chapter.

Minor updates elsewhere.

12APR2017

Removed appendix with list of permissions. Was not maintained.

15NOV2016

vSphere 6.5 - GA

Added chapter about vSphere virtual machine encryption.

Removed description of deprecated CIM Storage Management API.

Updated information about session cookie management.

04SEP2015 Updated information about migrating VMs with vMotion across data centers.
12MAR2015 vSphere 6.0 - Rewrote “Exporting a Virtual Application” section in Virtual Applications chapter.
19SEP2013 vSphere 5.5 – Added a C# example of using LoginByToken; clarified limitation for HA clusters.
10SEP2012 vSphere 5.1 – Added information about using the SessionManager.LoginByToken method; added information about distributed virtual switches.
24AUG2011 vSphere 5.0 - Revised performance manager chapter. Added information about: unset properties, using vCenter to access host data, and using the QueryConfigOption to add devices; emphasized ListView instead of TaskManager; clarified limits and limitations of Linked Virtual Machines; updated samples in chapters 3,5,14, and 16; replaced information about Axis bindings with JAX-WS; and updated paths to samples supplied with SDK.
13JUL2010 Restructured manual and added chapters about host, storage, and networking. Revised property collector chapter and added appendix about HTTP access.
07MAY2009 vSphere Web Services SDK 4.0 Programming Guide.

Intended Audience

This book is intended for anyone who needs to develop applications using the vSphere Web Services SDK. Developers typically create client applications using Java or C# (in the Microsoft .NET environment) targeting VMware vSphere. An understanding of Web Services technology and some programming background in one of the stub languages (C# or Java) is required.

VMware Technical Publications Glossary

VMware Technical Publications provides a glossary of terms that might be unfamiliar to you. For definitions of terms as they are used in VMware technical documentation go to http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs.

Document Feedback

VMware welcomes your suggestions for improving our documentation. Send your feedback to docfeedback@vmware.com.