VMware vSphere SDKs and Tools 7.0

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Storage Policy Operations
Last Updated December 16, 2024

The Storage Policy API is implemented with Web Services Description Language (WSDL), as an XML file describing how to communicate with it. The WSDL is usable with toolkit bindings by many programming languages, including Java.

SPBM Managed Objects

The Storage Policy API is structured like the vSphere API, and is likewise suitable for Java programming. Managed object types include the following:
  • PbmProfileProfileManager
     supports operations on virtual machine storage profiles.
  • PbmPlacementSolver
     identifies locations that support requested capabilities for storing virtual machine files.
  • PbmComplianceManager
     verifies compliance of virtual machine and virtual disk requirement profiles.
  • PbmReplicationManager
     deals with replication of virtual machine and virtual disk requirement profiles.
  • PbmServiceInstance
     is the root object of Storage Policy service, created connecting to SPBM.

Storage Policy API and vSphere API

The following table shows the correspondence between SPBM managed objects and vSphere API methods.
Storage Policy Operations and Virtual Machine Provisioning
SPBM Operation (Storage Policy API)
Virtual Machine Provisioning (vSphere API)
Use the
PbmProfileProfileManager
 methods to create and update storage profiles.
Associate storage profiles with virtual machines and virtual disks. See the description of the vSphere API data object properties
VirtualMachineConfigSpec.vmProfile
 and
FileBackedVirtualDiskSpec.profile
 in the vSphere API Reference. You can also use the
vSphere Web Client
 to associate a storage profile with a virtual machine or virtual disk.
Use the
PbmPlacementSolver
 methods to identify candidate datastores for storage locations.
Specify the datastores when you create virtual machines and virtual disks. See the description of the vSphere API data object properties
VirtualMachineFileInfo.vmPathName
 and
VirtualDeviceFileBackingInfo.datastore
 in the vSphere API Reference.
Use the
PbmComplianceManager
 methods to check compliance between storage requirements and capabilities.
After you associate a storage profile with a virtual machine or virtual disk, the Server will identify non-compliance if the datastore does not satisfy the requirements of the profile.

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