Getting started vmware apps

Virtualize Planet

Getting Started, writing VMware APPs
for novice programmers

Sponsored by

www.virtualizeplanet.com Author: Ricky El-Qasem: 2011

Breaking the magicians code

11/23/2012 2

No Programmers Allowed

 I’m not a programmer
 I do not speak in
Fortran or C++
 The point of this
session is that its for
novices like me

www.virtualizeplanet.com 11/23/2012 3

A word from the sponsors

All apps mentioned in this presentation are not the
products of Canopy Cloud. Ricky developed these
apps before joining Canopy.
Canopy Private Cloud

Solutions Catalogue: Vertical &
Horizontal Workloads

Management & Orchestration
vCloud Director - vSphere
Canopy
Appstore

Canopy Cloud Infrastructure
Vblock - Best-of-Breed


My Apps

 VPsnapper = where it all started
 Resource Pool Scheduler
 vDisk Waste Finder
 vSphere Plug-in Wizard = Best Free Tools VMworld
2011
 vDisk Informer


Different APIs

 COM API
 Web server API = SDK
 PowerCLI
 Etc etc


What you need before you begin

 .Net IDE = Visual Studio .Net
or
 Java IDE = Netbeans


So how did I do it?

 VPsnapper

I needed a way to revert the default snapshots on all my VMs with one click

+ COM API Document


VPSnapper


The SDK is the future
 Resource Pool Scheduler
•Student gave me an idea. I needed to be able to shift resource allocation from pool
to pool
• Once again I used the book and the SDK programmers guide but failed at stage 1
• Stage 1 was to list all VMs running
• I posted my failure on VMTN = VMware Communities
• Few days later VMware sent me a fixed version of my test app.
• This was a huge springboard


Another Useful Book

 Samples are in JAVA
 However I found I could
easily copy from JAVA
to C# .NET


The SDK Tree
ExtensibleManagedObject

ManagedEntity

ResourcePool ComputeResource Hostsystem Datacenter Folder VirtualMachine

ClusterComputeResource


MOB = Managed Object Browser

 https://yourserver/mob


How to work with the SDK

 Make a connection
 Filter only what you need – Proprerty Spec
 Which hierarchy objects to search - Traversal Spec


VIMAPI in .net

 2 x Dlls – import in to your code

 Using Statement:


MOREF Managed Object Reference

 You do not manipulate the VMware objects like
VMs, Folders, Hosts and Datastores directly
 You work with a representation of those objects
known as a Managed Object Reference aka MOREF
 Its all about the MOREF!


Data model

 Managed Object Types = objects that have
properties and methods
 MOREF = local representation
 Data Object = just pure data and no actions


vSphere Plug-in Wizard

 Finalist in Best Free
vSphere Tools VMworld
2011
 Plugs in Website of
your choice into
vSphere Client


vSphere Plug-in Wizard


vDisk Informer

 Helps you find wasted
vDisk space
 Helps you find
misaligned vDisks
 Use Gparted to fix


vDisk Waste Finder

 Previous version of
vDisk Informer
 VMUG can have copy
of code.
 Demo


Extreme GUI Makeover

 Before  After


Tips on creating a sexy GUI


Writing Config


Performing an action

ManagedObjectReference moref_task = _service.PowerOffVM
(moref_VM, moref_Host);


My best tip as a novice

 Take an existing example and hack it to death with
trial and error until you get it working for your
needs
 If something doesn’t work post it on VMware's
Community forum
 After today code for vDisk Waste Finder will be
available from my blog www.virtualizeplanet.com


Disclaimer:

Virtualize Planet will not be held liable for any actions you perform in
your environment. Anything you learn from this material should be used
at your own discretion and be warned actions you perform can be
damaging. Always consult a professional.


Getting started vmware apps

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