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Handy new vSphere 6.0 APIs to be aware of

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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

New vSphere 6.0 APIs for VSAN, VVOLs, NFS v4.1 & more!

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vSphere 6.0 includes a number of new storage platform capabilities and new features which includes VSAN 6.0, VVOLS and NFS v4.1 to just name a few. For those of you who are interested in consuming these new capabilities programmatically for Automation, here are some of the new vSphere 6.0 APIs to be aware of from a Storage stand point.

Generic Storage Sub-System

  • HostStorageSystem (Existing Managed Object)
    • Methods to manage and configure NFS v4.1
      • ChangeNFSUserPassword
      • ClearNFSUser
      • QueryNFSUser
      • SetNFSUser
    • Methods to mark a Disk device either Local or Remote
      • MarkAsLocal_Task
      • MarkAsNonLocal_Task
    • Methods to mark a Disk device as either an SSD or Magnetic Disk
      • MarkAsNonSsd_Task
      • MarkAsSsd_Task
    • Methods to turn On or Off the LED for supported Disk devices
      • TurnDiskLocatorLedOn_Task
      • TurnDiskLocatorLedOff_Task
    • Method to issue VAAI UNMAP operation
      • UnmapVmfsVolumeEx_Task
VSAN 6.0
  • VsanUpgradeSystem (New Managed Object) - Methods to upgrade to the new VSAN 6.0 on-disk format
    • PerformVsanUpgrade_Task
    • PerformVsanUpgradePreflightCheck
    • QueryVsanUpgradeStatus
  • HostVsanInternalSystem (Existing Managed Object) - Methods to query & upgrade VSAN Objects
    • QueryVsanObjectUuidsByFilter
    • UpgradeVsanObjects
  • HostVsanSystem (Existing Managed Object) - Methods to manage VSAN Node and disks
    • EvacuateVsanNode_Task
    • RecommissionVsanNode_Task
    • UnmountDiskMapping_Task
  • ComputeResource (Existing Managed Object)
    • faultDomainInfo - New Property to configure Fault Domains
VVOL
  • HostDatastoreSystem (Existing Managed Object) - Methods to create and delete VVOL Datastores
    • CreateVvolDatastore
    • RemoveDatastoreEx_Task

What's New Whitepapers for vSphere 6.0 Platform, VSAN 6.0 & others

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With the announcement vSphere 6.0, I am sure many of you are curious to learn more about the new features and capabilities in vSphere which includes a major update to Virtual SAN dubbed VSAN 6.0. From what I saw on Twitter yesterday, the blogosphere was on fire yesterday with so much content which was awesome but I also did notice quite a bit of incorrect information being posted. I suspect some of this information was based on earlier vSphere Beta's while others, I am really not sure where they got their information because it was not even mentioned in the Beta's. Remember, that not everything in the vSphere Beta will be released in the final product.

In any case, for the definitive source of What's New in vSphere 6.0, I would highly recommend everyone check out both new whitepapers for vSphere 6.0 Platform as well as VSAN 6.0 as they will contain all the details of what will be available at GA. Below are the direct links for the whitepapers as I did not find it on the Technical Whitepapers section of VMware.com which I suspect is still being updated.