Here is the deal. In a past life I was a monk who saved children from evil orphanage owners and small animals from evil masters and thus karma has seen fit to reward me with the opportunity of a lifetime. O'Reilly is allowing me to abuse their imprint with "Programming and Managing VMware Infrastructure." Instead of trying to explain exactly what the heck that title means, I'll just post what my editor helped me come up with for the back cover (no guarantee this will actually appear on the back cover):
Nearly all VMware Infrastructure (VI) users need to customize their configurations with site-specific programs and scripts. Tasks commonly solved include backups, logging, automating the migration of virtual machines between host servers, and inserting security modules. These automated tasks have received little attention or documentation in the field, in comparison with routine administrative tasks, but automating administration is a central skill for sites using VMware.
In version 3 of VI (VI3), VMware placed programming and scripting on a much firmer basis, providing an application programming interface (API) that can be leveraged by many popular programming and scripting languages. Use of this API completely replaces the less robust, operating-system specific solutions such as the Linux service console that predated VI3. The base software development kit (SDK) supporting this API is called the VI SDK. It's also important to understand the VMware Common Information Model (CIM) SDK and at least one SDK corresponding to the language chosen by the site developers.
This book will be the definitive guide for systems administrators and developers eager to make use of the VI and CIM SDKs. The book shows their use with several popular languages, including the VI Perl Toolkit and VI Toolkit (for Windows) as well as C#, Java, and Python. Advanced topics, such as creating client plugins and communicating with VMware through its web service, are also covered.
This text demystifies the VI SDK, transforming the difficult task of searching the VI inventory into a simple one. Content includes, but is not limited to:
• Code examples in C#, Java, Perl, and PowerShell (where possible). No matter your preferred language or toolkit, you will find an example tailored to fit your needs!
• Numerous solutions to common administrative tasks, which can make readers productive immediately while teaching deeper concepts. Examples include migrating a virtual machine with VMotion, generating a performance report on your virtual infrastructure, and on a more advanced level, implementing Layer-2 networking security measures.
• How to extend the VI client by creating your own custom plug-ins using the VI client plug-in architecture: introduced in VI 3.5.
• How to access the VI programmatically from any language by exposing and explaining the VI web service calls at the heart of all SDK manipulation.
With the service console scheduled for deprecation and the release of ESXi, understanding how to automate VI administration through the SDKs and toolkits is more important than ever.
Okay, here is where I beg for your help. I already have a list of topics I am going to cover with regards to code examples, but I would like you, the developer community to send me your ideas as well. And if you have any code that you feel like contributing I will gladly look it over, put it in the book, and source you. Because the code examples need to be translated to C#, Java, Perl, and PowerShell (where applicable), it helps if you can provide all translations.
This is my ticket to blow it, I know. But what I hope to achieve is a guide, reference manual, and just a helpful book for all VI developers to use. The book is proposed to be completed by next March, so hopefully it will hit shelves late spring / early summer.
Yay!
