Deploying a Plug-In
Package
You deploy a
plug-in package to the
vSphere Client
by registering the package as an extension on
vCenter Server
.
When you register your plug-in as an extension on
vCenter Server
,
your plug-in becomes available to any
vSphere Client
that connects to your
vCenter Server
.
You must register your plug-in
on every
vCenter Server
where you need to use it. When a
vSphere Client
connects to a
vCenter Server
where your plug-in is not registered, the plug-in is not visible to the
vSphere Client
.
When a
vSphere Client
establishes a user session to a
vCenter Server
instance, the
vSphere Client
application server queries
vCenter Server
for a list of all available plug-in packages that are registered as
vCenter Server
extensions. Plug-in packages that are not present on the
vSphere Client
application server are downloaded and deployed.
The
vSphere Client
application server can run only one version of each plug-in package. If a plug-in
package is present on the application server, but has an older version number than the
registered vCenter Server
extension, the registered vCenter Server
extension replaces the older plug-in package with the newer version.When
vCenter Server
instances operate in linked mode, a user login can cause the
vSphere Client
to upgrade to the
latest version of a plug-in. The vSphere Client
queries the vCenter Server
instance for a list of registered plug-ins, and the
vCenter Server
in turn queries all
other instances in the link group to compare versions of registered plug-ins. The
vCenter Server
instance then upgrades
all its registered plug-ins to the highest version registered within the link group, and
presents that version in the user interface. This assures a consistent behavior for
plug-ins, regardless of which vCenter Server
instance the browser connects to.When a user views a managed object,
the visibility of plug-in object extensions depends on whether the
vCenter Server
instance that owns the object has
an applicable plug-in registered. If so, the vSphere Client
always displays the latest version of the plug-in.
If not, the vSphere Client
does not
display the plug-in at all.