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VMware Fusion Powershell community module

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During the VMware Fusion 2017 Tech Preview, I was experimenting around with the new Fusion REST API and I had built a small prototype PowerShell Module as a way for me to learn how the API works. This allowed me to provide valuable feedback back to the Fusion Engineering team on improving the REST API UX. I was pleasantly happy to see that the majority of the feedback was indeed implemented for Fusion 10 which GA'ed a few weeks back.

Given the PowerShell module was pretty useful for my own use, I figure I would also publish it for others who might also be interested in Automating VM management using the new Fusion REST API, especially those with a PowerShell/PowerCLI background. Another nice thing about the module is that it can run across macOS/Linux via PowerShell Core or Windows using full blown PowerShell. I have been slowly tweaking the module to include the updated REST API changes and I am please to announce that the VMware.Hosted PowerShell Module which supports the new Fusion 10 REST API is now available!

The module includes the following 14 functions:

  • Connect-HostedServer
  • Disconnect-HostedServer
  • Get-HostedNetworks
  • Get-HostedVM
  • Get-HostedVMNic
  • Get-HostedVMSharedFolder
  • New-HostedVM
  • New-HostedVMSharedFolder
  • Remove-HostedVM
  • Remove-HostedVMSharedFolder
  • Resume-HostedVM
  • Start-HostedVM
  • Stop-HostedVM
  • Suspend-HostedVM


If you have ever used PowerCLI before, these functions should feel very familiar. We have basic Connect/Disconnect-HostedServer which will set an environmental variable called $DefaultHostedServer. This variable contains some basic information about the Fusion API endpoint as well as the base64 encoded credentials which are required when connecting to the new Fusion API. Below are a few examples using the new Fusion module, they are pretty basic and I have only implemented a sub-set of the Fusion REST API, so any community contributions are most welcome!

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How to enable remote REST API access for VMware Fusion 10

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In case you did not hear the good news, VMware Fusion 10 along with its older brother VMware Workstation 14 just GA'ed a few days ago and there are a TON of cool new features (like new Network Simulator) for both product lines. I am personally excited about the Automation capabilities that have been introduced in Fusion which includes a brand new REST API which I wrote about here during the Tech Preview release.

There was a lot of great feedback both from the community as well as myself on the REST API in particular. It looks like Fusion team took the feedback very seriously and have made a number of improvements to the GA release.

The first enhancement is that users will now be required to setup credentials before the REST API endpoint can start. During the Tech Preview, there was no way to setup passwords and anyone could login remotely to the API which was not a good thing from a security standpoint. Below is a screenshot if you try to run the vmrest binary without configuring your credentials.


Secondly, there are a number of configurable options that the vmrest utility now supports such as binding to a specific IP Address or changing the default port. These were not configurable during the Tech Preview and I am glad the Fusion team has added more flexibility to where the REST API endpoint could run.

Usage of ./vmrest:
  -c, --cert-path <cert-path>
    	REST API Server certificate path
  -C, --config
    	Configure credential
  -d, --debug
    	Enable debug logging
  -h, --help
    	Print usage
  -i, --ip <ip>
    	REST API Server IP binding (default 127.0.0.1)
  -k, --key-path <key-path>
    	REST API Server private key path
  -p, --port <port>
    	REST API Server port (default 8697)
  -v, --version
    	Print version information

Lastly, the REST API now also supports both HTTP and HTTPS where-as before, only HTTP was supported. In addition, if you wish to expose the REST API remotely (e.g. not-running on the loop back address), you will also be required to have the API endpoint running over HTTPS. Overall, these are fantastic changes and thank you to the Fusion team for being security conscious with their first release of the Fusion REST APIs.

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VMware Fusion 2017 Tech Preview adds REST API support

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In case you have not heard the news, the VMware Fusion and Workstation team just released their 2017 Tech Preview releases which you can read more about it here and here. A couple of years back, VMware had released a slimmed down desktop Hypervisor based on VMware Fusion called AppCatalyst which was optimized for developers wanting to run Docker Containers. Although the feedback for AppCatalyst was positive, the large majority of customers preferred to see the AppCatalyst specific features such as the RESTful API to just be included natively within Fusion rather than having a separate product.

Although it could not be said at the time, the feedback was heard loud and clear and the plan was to pull in the AppCatalyst REST API directly into Fusion. With the Fusion 2017 Tech Preview, you will now be able to interact with your Virtual Machines running on Fusion using the new Fusion REST API which also includes some additional new capabilities that was not there with the AppCatalyst REST APIs such as network and port forwarding management.

UPDATE (09/27/17) - VMware Fusion 10 has just officially GA'ed and there have been number of updates and enhancements since the Tech Preview. From an Automation/API standpoint, there have been several major updates that I would like to call out.

First, there are several new command-linen options to the vmrest utility including support for both HTTP and HTTPS API endpoints, credentials are also now supported so you can setup a shared username/password and ensure that only authorized folks can login to the API and lastly, the default port is now also configurable. Along with these widely requested features during the Tech Preview, there is also a nice debugging option while using the Fusion UI for troubleshooting purposes.

Secondly, the Fusion Swagger REST API docs has received a total re-vamp in terms of organization and cleaned up documentation. Below is a screenshot of the Swagger interface for the GA version of Fusion 10 which should make it even easier to consume the REST API.

Getting Started

Step 1 - Once you have installed the Fusion 2017 TP release, you will need to start the REST API endpoint which is provided by /Applications/VMware Fusion Tech Preview.app/Contents/Public/vmrest You can just type vmrest and it should automatically start or if you prefer to run it in the background, just type the following:

vmrest &

Here is screenshot of starting the Fusion REST API endpoint:


Note: The default port for the REST API is 8697

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