HTTP and SOAP Header Handlers in Java

To use a vCenter Single Sign-On token to login to a vCenter server, the example uses header handlers to manipulates the HTTP and SOAP header elements of the login request. After establishing a handler, subsequent requests automatically invoke the handler.

  • Insertion handlers put the vCenter Single Sign On token and a timestamp into the SOAP header into the HTTP header of the login request.
  • An extraction handler obtains the HTTP session cookie provided by the vCenter Server. After setting up the handler, a call to the LoginByToken method will invoke the handler to extract the cookie from the Server response.

The following figure shows the use of handlers to manipulate header elements when establishing a vCenter Single Sign On session with a vCenter Server.

Figure 1. Starting a vCenter Session
Image shows block diagram of header handler operations.
Important: Every call to the vCenter Server will invoke any message handlers that have been established. The overhead involved in using the SOAP and HTTP message handlers is not necessary after the session has been established. The example saves the default message handler before setting up the SOAP and HTTP handlers. After establishing the session, the example will reset the handler chain and restore the default handler.

The example code also uses multiple calls to the VimPortType.getVimPort method to manage the request context. The getVimPort method clears the HTTP request context. After each call to the getVimPort method, the client resets the request context endpoint address to the vCenter Server URL. After the client has obtained the session cookie, it will restore the cookie in subsequent requests.