Handy new vSphere 6.0 APIs to be aware of

The number of new platform capabilities and features in vSphere 6.0 is by far the largest that I have seen in awhile. One of the things I like to do with each new vSphere release is review all the new APIs that are now available to be consumed. Here are some of the new vSphere APIs that I think are interesting from an Automation point of view for vSphere 6 that I think folks should be aware of. I know for myself, there are several new vSphere APIs that I have personally been waiting for quite some time and I am glad to finally see them available for our customers, developers and partners. Depending on my free time, I may go into more details on how some of these new APIs work and provide some sample codes.

If you would like to see the complete list of new vSphere 6.0 APIs, be sure to check out the vSphere 6.0 API Reference Guide (available when vSphere 6.0 GA's which is Q1 of 2015) which has a "What's New" section on all the new Managed Objects, Methods, Properties, etc.

CertificateManager - API to deploy and refresh VMCA (VMware Certificate Authority) SSL Certificates for ESXi hosts

• CertMgrRefreshCACertificatesAndCRLs_Task
• CertMgrRefreshCertificates_Task
• CertMgrRevokeCertificates_Task

ClusterEVCManager - API to finally manage and configure EVC (Enhanced vMotion Compatibility) for a vSphere Cluster

• CheckAddHostEvc_Task
• CheckConfigureEvcMode_Task
• ConfigureEvcMode_Task
• DisableEvcMode_Task

IoFilterManager - API to manage the new IO Filter capability

• InstallIoFilter_Task
• QueryDisksUsingFilter
• QueryIoFilterInfo
• QueryIoFilterIssues
• ResolveInstallationErrorsOnCluster_Task
• ResolveInstallationErrorsOnHost_Task
• UninstallIoFilter_Task
• UpgradeIoFilter_Task

ClusterComputeResource - API to quickly lookup all the affinity and anti-affinity rules for a VM

• FindRulesForVm

VSAN 6.0 / VVOL / NFS v4.1 APIs - Please take a look here

HostStorageSystem 

• Marking a Disk device as either Local or Remote
  • MarkAsLocal_Task
  • MarkAsNonLocal_Task
• Marking a Disk device as either an SSD or Magnetic Disk
  • MarkAsNonSsd_Task
  • MarkAsSsd_Task
• Turn On of Off the LED on supported Disk device
  • TurnDiskLocatorLedOn_Task
  • TurnDiskLocatorLedOff_Task
• VMFS UNMAP operation
  • UnmapVmfsVolumeEx_Task

HostCertificateManager - API to manage and update custom CA signed SSL Certificates on ESXi hosts

• GenerateCertificateSigningRequest
• GenerateCertificateSigningRequestByDn
• InstallServerCertificate
• ListCACertificateRevocationLists
• ListCACertificates
• ReplaceCACertificatesAndCRLs

HostActiveDirectoryAuthentication - API to manage Smart Card Authentication on ESXi hosts

• DisableSmartCardAuthentication
• EnableSmartCardAuthentication
• InstallSmartCardTrustAnchor
• ListSmartCardTrustAnchors
• RemoveSmartCardTrustAnchor
• RemoveSmartCardTrustAnchorByFingerprint
• ReplaceSmartCardTrustAnchors

HostAccessManager - API to manage new Lockdown Mode capabilities and modify System Users

• ChangeAccessMode
• ChangeLockdownMode
• QueryLockdownExceptions
• QuerySystemUsers
• RetrieveHostAccessControlEntries
• UpdateLockdownExceptions
• UpdateSystemUsers

VirtualMachine

• Enable SMP-FT for VM
  • CreateSecondaryVMEx_Task
• Send NMI (Non-Masking Interrupt) request to VM
  • SendNMI

GuestWindowsRegistryManager - API to manage registry keys for Windows Guest OSes

• CreateRegistryKeyInGuest
• DeleteRegistryKeyInGuest
• DeleteRegistryValueInGuest
• ListRegistryKeysInGuest
• ListRegistryValuesInGuest
• SetRegistryValueInGuest