How to develop vSphere solution

You can add functions to vSphere by developing software applications that you register as

vCenter Server

extensions. A vSphere solution is an extension that registers with

vCenter Server

and implements some or all of the extension features of the vSphere API.

Developing and Deploying vSphere Solutions, vServices, and ESX Agents

uses the terms solution and extension interchangeably.

A vSphere solution is an object or program that you create by extending specific classes in the vSphere Web Services API. After you register your solution with the instance of the

ExtensionManager

managed object associated with your

vCenter Server

, you see your solution under

Administration

Solutions

vCenter Server Extensions

of your

vSphere Client

You can create a vService solution to provide access for a specific application to connect to a service across the network.

You can create an ESX Agent to extend the functions of an

ESXi

host and provide additional services that a vSphere solution requires.

The vService Manager and

ESX Agent Manager

are pre-built solutions that are part of the

vCenter Server Extensions

functionality within the

vCenter Server

The extension features in the vSphere Web Services API include functions so that you can perform the following tasks:

Identify and prevent manual operations on virtual machines and vApps that extensions deploy.

Integrate extensions with

ExtensionManager

Store data about extensions in the vSphere database.

Provide user interface plug-ins that extend the

vSphere Client

To use the extension functions of the vSphere API, a solution must register itself with the

ExtensionManager

that runs in a

vCenter Server

instance. By registering with

ExtensionManager

, a solution can access the extension features of the vSphere extension API.

You can develop solutions that add functions to the standard functions of

vCenter Server

. You can deploy a solution as an Open Virtualization Format (OVF) package, with optional VMware vSphere Installation Bundles (VIB). You can also install solutions by using an installer, such as Windows Installer (MSI) or RPM Package Manager. Most of the extension functions in the vSphere API are independent of the technology that you use to deploy a solution. If you deploy a solution by using OVF, you can use the vCenter Extension vService to simplify the registration of the solution with

vCenter Server

8.0 provides built-in solutions.

vSphere ESX Agent Manager

vService Manager

vSphere ESX Agent Manager

and

vService Manager

are part of a standard

vCenter Server

installation. These solutions appear in

vCenter Server Extensions

and