Use the

ExtensionManager

managed object in your

vCenter Server

instance to register a new extension. Extensions can add new objects to the vCenter inventory. Extensions define tasks, events, and faults that relate to actions that the solution performs on the objects, the events that occur in the extension, and the problems that the objects encounter. You can also use

ExtensionManager

to add user interface elements to the

vSphere Client

to allow users to interact with the objects that your extension provides to

vCenter Server

.

vCenter Server

extensions can have both a client and a server component, or they can consist of just a client component or just a server component. Each instance of an extension is represented by an

Extension

data object.

You can indicate that an extension manages the virtual machines or vApps that it creates by setting the

managedBy

property in the

ManagedEntityInfo

data object for that virtual machine or vApp. When you register an extension with

vCenter Server

, you can define an icon that represents the virtual machines that the extension manages. Virtual machines that an extension manages display the icon that you define in the inventory of virtual machines in the

vSphere Client

. The

vCenter Server

shows a warning if users try to perform manual operations on a virtual machine or vApp that the extension manages.

ExtensionManager

adds data objects to the vSphere Extension APIs that integrate extensions as vCenter solutions that you can manage.

For information about how to develop

vSphere Client

extensions, see the

Developing Remote Plug-ins with the vSphere Client SDK

documentation.

For information about developing vSphere applications, see the

vSphere Web Services SDK Programming Guide

and the

VMware vSphere API Reference

documentation.