Steve_Jin's Posts

This is NOT a vSphere API issue. When a snapshot is cut, a new child (delta) disk is created for changes forward. If you remove the parent disk and child disks in snapshot chain, a child disk is useless. To enforce integrity of the disks, users are not allowed to delete parent disk and child disks in the chain before a child disk is deleted. You may want to check out this KB for more explanation: http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1015180 Best luck! Steve, vExpert, creator of open source vijava API, http://www.doublecloud.org

I had written a simple sample before, but not the same as you expected: http://www.doublecloud.org/2013/11/hacking-vmware-private-python-api-for-vsphere-with-a-quick-sample/ Good luck! Steve (http://www.doublecloud.org)

That is right. As the creator of the vijava API, I am not aware of it's downloadable anywhere. But as vSphereArt pointed out, it's easy to create one yourself. Good luck! Steve (http://www.doublecloud.org)

Feel free to take a look at the implementation of open source vijava API which has resolved the issue: http://vijava.sf.net. Or, you can just use the API and forget about these tedious details. Commercial version of open source is also available: http://www.doublecloud.org/2014/01/announcing-vijavang-much-lighter-and-faster-with-commercial-license-and-support/ Disclaimer: I am the creator of the open source. Steve

As Laurent pointed out, open source vijava can help that with one line like the following:   ManagedEntity[] mes = new InventoryNavigator(rootFolder).searchManagedEntities("HostSystem"); Check out more with the Hello World sample: http://sourceforge.net/p/vijava/code/HEAD/tree/trunk/src/com/vmware/vim25/mo/samples/HelloVM.java For the support, you can try the commercial version vijavaNG: http://www.doublecloud.org/2014/01/announcing-vijavang-much-lighter-and-faster-with-commercial-license-and-support/ Good luck! Steve

Just blogged about using vSphere SDK in Visual Studio 2012: http://www.doublecloud.org/2012/10/vmware-vsphere-sdk-with-visual-studio-2012/ Steve, creator of de fact vSphere Java API http://twitter.com/sjin2008

Not really JavaDoc for the API but close enough to work on the Java API using it: http://vijava.sourceforge.net/vSphereAPIDoc/ver51/ReferenceGuide/ Also, FAQ here: http://www.doublecloud.org/vmware-vsphere-api-and-sdk-faq/ Steve

It's an interesting problem. Supposedly you don't use 5.1 SDK with 5.0 server. But the other way around should be fine. A workaround is to first detect server version and then apply different SDKs. Steve http://www.doublecloud.org

It's pretty tricky. Take a look at the code I wrote for vijava API: http://vijava.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/vijava/trunk/src/com/vmware/vim25/mo/util/PropertyCollectorUtil.java?revision=279&view=markup retrieveProperties() method in particular. Steve Jin, http://www.doublecloud.org

If you use Apache AXIS, you would notice the first time connection takes several seconds. That's because it needs to load all the classes before any single call. Things are different with open source vijava API - it just takes about 0.2 to 0.4 seconds even for the first time. To download it, check out http://vijava.sf.net. Steve http://www.doublecloud.org

It's more than a short description, but the good thing is that it's not different from other Java programs using SSL certificate. At high level, you will need the server certificate into your keystore and include the keystore in the JVM parameter. Check out the keytool command for more details. Steve

When using the open source's jar, you need to remove all the AXIS related jars from the build path. I would suggest you to create a new project and just include the vijava*.jar and dom4j*.jar files. Steve http://www.doublecloud.org

Give it a try of the open source (BSD license) VI Java API (disclaimer: I am the creator). Here is a 5 minute tutorial to run your first hello VM sample. http://vijava.sourceforge.net/doc/getstarted/tutorial.htm Steve Jin, http://www.doublecloud.org

The WaitForUpdate() and the newer  WaitForUpdateEx() is designed to be "hanging." You have two choices: 1. Use the RetrieveProperties, or RetrievePropertiesEx() 2. Use a different thread to call the WaitForUpdate() and the newer WaitForUpdateEx() Hope it helps! Steve Jin, Author of VMware VI and vSphere SDK, Creator of open source VI Java API managing vSphere, http://www.doublecloud.org

As the returned message says, the argument caused the trouble was the fault argument, which is of type MethodFault. According to the API reference, the fault argument is really optional. But my guess is that when you give a state of error, the fault argument becomes required. So this is really conditionally optional. So to fix the problem, you may want to pass in fault argument. Steve, author of vSphere and VI SDK, creator of open source vijava API managing vSphere, http://www.doublecloud.org

You may want to try the open source API. Just 5 minutes to read a quick tutorial and run your first Java program: http://vijava.sourceforge.net/doc/getstarted/tutorial.htm Steve Jin, Author of VMware VI and vSphere SDK http://www.doublecloud.org