Components of the
vSphere
Automation
Virtualization Layer
vSphere
Automation
Virtualization LayerAt the core of
vSphere
Automation
is
vSphere, which provides the virtualization layer of the software-defined data
center. You can use vSphere deployment options for
vCenter
Server
and
ESXi
hosts to
build virtual environments of different scales.
Components and Services of the vSphere
Environment
Starting with vSphere 7.0, the
installation and setup of vSphere is simplified to the deployment and upgrade of
vCenter
Server
. vCenter
Server
is a preconfigured virtual machine optimized for running the
vCenter
Server
service and the vCenter
Server
components. The vCenter
Server
service acts as a central administrator for ESXi
hosts.Components Installed with
vCenter
Server
vCenter
Server
vCenter
Server
is a central administration point for ESXi
hosts. The group of components installed when you install
vCenter
Server
include the
vCenter
Server
service, vSphere Client
, VMware vSphere®Auto Deploy™, VMware vSphere®ESXi™ Dump Collector, VMware vSphere® Syslog Collector,
and vSphere Lifecycle Manager
service. You can use the
vSphere
Automation
API endpoint to access the following services
running on vCenter
Server
. - Content Library
- You can use content libraries to share virtual machines, vApps, and other files, such as ISO, OVA, and text files, across the software-defined data center. You can create, share, and subscribe to content libraries on the samevCenter Serverinstance or on a remote instance. Sharing content libraries promotes consistency, compliance, efficiency, and automation in deploying workloads at scale.You can also create OVF and VM templates from virtual machines and vApps in hosts, resource pools, and clusters. You can then use the OVF and VM templates to deploy new virtual machines and vApps.Starting with vSphere 7.0, you can edit the contents of a VM template. You can check out the library item that contains the VM template. After editing the VM template, check in the library item to save the changes to the virtual machine.
- Virtual Machine
- You can use thevSphere AutomationAPIs to create, configure, and manage the life cycle of virtual machines in your environment.Starting with vSphere 7.0, you can also clone, create an instant clone, migrate, register, and unregister a virtual machine.
- vSphere Lifecycle Manager
- Starting with vSphere 7.0, the life cycle ofESXihosts and clusters can be managed through the VMware vSphere®Lifecycle Manager™ feature. Based on the current state of the hosts in a cluster, you can easily create a desired software specification by using the contents of a software depot. Then you validate the desired software specification and you apply the specification on all hosts in the cluster.
- vSphere Tags
- With vSphere tags you can attach metadata to vSphere objects, and as a result, make it easier to filter and sort these objects. You can use thevSphere AutomationAPIs to automate the management of vSphere tags.
- vSphere Supervisor
- Starting with vSphere 7.0, you can enablevSphere Supervisoron an existing vSphere cluster in your environment. Create and configure namespaces on theSupervisorsto run Kubernetes workloads in dedicated resource pools.
About vSphere
vSphere is the
VMware software stack that implements private-cloud data center management and
the on-premises component of hybrid-cloud deployments.
A vSphere installation includes
one or more instances of
vCenter Server
configured to manage one or more virtual data centers. Each virtual data center
includes one or more instances of VMware
ESXi
.
About ESXi
Each instance of
ESXi includes management agents and the VMware hypervisor layer, which runs
several virtual machines. Each virtual machine contains a guest operating
system, such as Windows or Linux, capable of running IT or user applications.
vCenter Server
runs as a virtual machine on an ESXi host. vCenter Server
provides an independent endpoint capable of
handling API requests both for vCenter Server
and for the
vCenter Server
.
vCenter Server Management Overview
vCenter Server
Management OverviewvCenter Server
runs on a
Photon OS™ guest operating system. vCenter Server
is a collection of services designed for managing and
monitoring vSphere installations. vCenter Server
responds to CLI commands, requests from the vSphere Client
, and API requests from custom
clients. API clients can be written in a choice of several software languages. vCenter Server
is managed by CLI, Web interfaces, or API requests. These
requests help you manage vCenter Server
configuration, monitor resource usage, or back up and restore the vCenter Server
instance. You can also use API requests to check the health of
vCenter Server
. This programming guide explains how to use the
vSphere
Automation
APIs that are available
to manage and monitor vCenter Server
. For more information about the capabilities of
.
vCenter Server
, see vCenter Server
Configuration