Environment Browser APIs

Environment Browser APIs

This managed object type provides access to the environment that a ComputeResource presents for creating and configuring a virtual machine.

The environment consists of three main components:

  • The virtual machine configuration options. Each vim.vm.ConfigOption describes the execution environment for a virtual machine, the particular set of virtual hardware that is supported. A ComputeResource might support multiple sets. Access is provided through the configOptionDescriptor property and the QueryConfigOption operation.
  • The supported device targets. Each virtual device specified in the virtual machine needs to be hooked up to a "physical" counterpart. For networks, this means choosing a network name; for a virtual CD-rom this might be an ISO image, etc. The environment browser provides access to the device targets through the QueryConfigTarget operation.
  • Storage locations and files. A selection of locations where the virtual machine files can be stored, and the possibility to browse for existing virtual disks and ISO images. The datastore browser, provided by the datastoreBrowser property, provides access to the contents of one or more datastores. The items in a datastore are files that contain configuration, virtual disk, and the other data associated with a virtual machine.
  • The capabilities supported by the ComputeResource to which the virtual machine belongs.

Operations
GET
Environment Browser Get Datastore Browser
DatastoreBrowser to browse datastores that are available on this entity.
POST
Environment Browser Query Config Option
Query for a specific virtual machine configuration option (the ConfigOption).
POST
Environment Browser Query Config Option Descriptor
The list of ConfigOption keys available on this entity.
POST
Environment Browser Query Config Option Ex
Query for a virtual machine configuration *option* matching the key or host or both given in the *EnvironmentBrowserConfigOptionQuerySpec*.
POST
Environment Browser Query Config Target
Queries for information about a specific target, a "physical" device that can be used to back virtual devices.
POST
Environment Browser Query Target Capabilities
Queries for information on the capabilities supported by the ComputeResource associated with the EnvironmentBrowser.