VMware Communities: Message List - Free ESXi Automation Limitations?

Re: Free ESXi Automation Limitations?

lberc — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 11:37:20 GMT

Automation is supported via the VI SDK, which is a remote interface. Bindings are available for Perl , PowerShell , Java, etc. The packages are available on the VMware SDK download site. You can also use the Remote CLI which is similar to ESX Classic COS commands. Here is a thread about configurig with PowerShell (and some Perl) and here is a sketch for integrating with PXE .

Re: Free ESXi Automation Limitations?

rmrobert — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 17:17:27 GMT

Yes, all of that should be possible, ESXi isn't crippled in any way.

Free ESXi Automation Limitations?

ajstiles — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 13:22:13 GMT

I'm waiting for a box to arrive on which I can install ESXi. I'm trying to hammer out the scripting/automation functionalities and limitations of using ESXi without Foundation or Infrastructure. We're currently using VMware Server and the Perl API to do things like load files into running VMs, run scripts inside VMs, and periodically restart VMs. Is it possible to script any of these functions using the Perl API (or other API) using ESXi free? Thanks!

Adam