Control Through vCenter Server

Programs can control DataSets through a vCenter Server using the vSphere Automation API (vAPI).

Methods are provided for managing DataSets, and for managing entries in a DataSet. These methods can be run as REST operations, or from Java or Python programs. See developer.vmware.com for complete information about the various vSphere Automation SDKs. Ruby, Perl, and .NET bindings were deprecated but are still available as open source on Github.

DataSets have certain properties, called attributes. Attributes include a description of the DataSet, access permissions from the guest or host, and usage type. Attributes are assigned to each DataSet at create time, and can be modified by an update.

Note: In the following REST examples, {server} represents the vCenter Server that manages ESXi hosts running VMs in a datacenter.

Operations on a DataSet:

create – create a new DataSet with specified attributes
```
POST https://{server}/api/vcenter/vm/{vm}/data-sets
```

delete - delete a DataSet

DELETE https://{server}/api/vcenter/vm/{vm}/data-sets/{DataSet}

update – modify the attributes of a DataSet
```
PATCH https://{server}/api/vcenter/vm/{vm}/data-sets/{DataSet}
```
get – query the attributes of a DataSet
```
GET https://{server}/api/vcenter/vm/{vm}/data-sets/{DataSet}
```
list - list all DataSets in a VM
```
GET  https://{server}/api/vcenter/vm/{vm}/data-sets
```

Operations on DataSet entries:

set - create or update an entry in a DataSet
```
PUT https://{server}/api/vcenter/vm/{vm}/data-sets/{DataSet}/entries/{key}
```
get - retrieve the value of an entry in a DataSet
```
GET https://{server}/api/vcenter/vm/{vm}/data-sets/{DataSet}/entries/{key}
```

delete - delete an entry in a DataSet

DELETE https://{server}/api/vcenter/vm/{vm}/data-sets/{DataSet}/entries/{key}

list - list all entry keys in a DataSet

GET https://{server}/api/vcenter/vm/{vm}/data-sets/{DataSet}/entries

These REST operations communicate back and forth in JSON, similar to the examples shown in the sections below.

For instruction and examples of REST programming, see the vSphere Automation API Reference on code.vmware.com.