Working with Online Depots

You can use the vSphere Automation APIs to add online depots to the list of currently configured online software depots.

Use online depots to add new content over time to the management scope of the Depot Manager. The Depot Manager periodically updates the software depots metadata stored on the vCenter Server instance. In case new software updates are uploaded to the online depots, the Depot Manager makes sure that the metadata stored on the vCenter Server database is updated accordingly.

To add an online depot to the Depot Manager, you must first create the online depot specification by using the com.vmware.esx.settings.depots.OnlineTypes.CreateSpec class. To specify the URI to the vendor-index.xml file of the online depot, use the setLocation(location) method of the OnlineTypes.CreateSpec class. Optionally, you can add a description and enable the depot. By default, when you add an online depot to the Depot Manager, the depot is enabled and its metadata is synchronized following the defined schedule. If you want to synchronize the added online depot immediately, call the sync_Task() method of the com.vmware.esx.settings.Depots interface. When you complete the depot specification, call the create(spec) method of the com.vmware.esx.settings.depots.Online interface to add the depot.

You can edit the depot description and disable the depot by creating an com.vmware.esx.settings.depots.OnlineTypes.UpdateSpec object and pass it to the update( depot, update_spec) method of the com.vmware.esx.settings.depots.Online interface.

You can remove an online depot from the list of currently configured depots by using the delete(depotID) method of the com.vmware.esx.settings.depots.Online interface. The invocation of this method does not remove the already downloaded metadata and payloads from the deleted depot. You cannot delete the default VMware online depot, you can only disable it.

To retrieve a list of currently configured online depots, call the list() method of the Online interface. You can also retrieve information about a currently configured online depot by using the get(depotID) method of the Online interface.