Re: Esxi version

[Ryan Johnson <rj...@gwmail.gwu.edu>]

After a cursory glance into this issue, it seems that the VIX api could be
used to replace the functionality provided by VI perl toolkit which is
currently used by VCL and no longer functions for free versions of ESXi
3.5up4+.  Does this sound possible / is there anyone using a free version of
ESXi who would be interested in seeing this workaround developed?  It would
at least allow continued use of the free version of ESXi with VCL in the
near future.

VMware Server 2.x Support

[Andy Kurth <an...@ncsu.edu>]

In the "proposed change to release Road Map" thread we decided to add support 
for VMWare Free Server 2.x in the next release.  I'm interested in working on 
this and hope to get started soon.

The first step will be figuring out which API to use.  There are a number of 
different VMware APIs available:
http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs/sdk_pubs.html

Ryan Johnson brought up the VMware VIX API.  This looks promising since it 
supports VMware Server 1.x, 2.x, ESX, and ESXi 4.0.

I know a few on this list have worked with the vSphere SDK for Perl, which used 
to be named VI Perl Toolkit.  I'm guessing this may have some more advanced 
features that VIX doesn't.  Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think the 
vSphere SDK can be used for VMware Server 1.x or 2.x.  Please share any info you 
may have regarding pros/cons of any of the APIs you have worked with.

As part of this effort I would like to come up with a framework that makes the 
different VMware provisioning modules easier to implement and consistent, and to 
make it easier to add support for any new VMware APIs in the future.  I'm 
thinking of creating utility modules specific to each VMware API, such as 
VIX_API.pm or vSphere_SDK.pm.  These would contain basic functions such as 
power_off() but would not contain load() or capture().  The provisioning modules 
could then share the basic code that makes API calls.  Please reply if you have 
any thoughts regarding this.

I plan to take a look at VIX.  Please reply if you're interested in working on this.

Thanks,
Andy

Re: Esxi version

[Jeffrey Wisman <je...@csueastbay.edu>]

Ryan,
We're running into issues using ESXi 4.0 here.  I've detailed them in
another thread, but it sounds like it comes down to the same issue.  So we'd
be very interested in this workaround.  In the meanwhile, we plan to get a
license to test with.  We may also grab portions of the new Vsphere SDK 4.0
to test with that as well.  Let me know how it goes.

Thanks,
Jeff


On Mon, Mar 1, 2010 at 12:51 PM, Ryan Johnson <rj...@gwmail.gwu.edu>wrote:

> After a cursory glance into this issue, it seems that the VIX api could be
> used to replace the functionality provided by VI perl toolkit which is
> currently used by VCL and no longer functions for free versions of ESXi
> 3.5up4+.  Does this sound possible / is there anyone using a free version
> of
> ESXi who would be interested in seeing this workaround developed?  It would
> at least allow continued use of the free version of ESXi with VCL in the
> near future.
>