Virtual Infrastructure User Directory APIs

Virtual Infrastructure User Directory APIs

The UserDirectory managed object provides information about users and groups on a vSphere server and ESX hosts.

The method RetrieveUserGroups returns a list of user account data. The method can perform a search operation based on specific criteria - user name, group name, sub-string or string matching, and, on Windows, domain. Use the results as input to the AuthorizationManager methods SetEntityPermissions and ResetEntityPermissions.

The content of the returned results depends on the server environment:

  • On a Windows host, RetrieveUserGroups can search from the set of trusted domains on the host, including the primary domain of the system. A special domain (specified as an empty string - "") refers to the users and groups local to the host.
  • On an ESX Server or a Linux host, the search operates on the users and groups defined in the /etc/passwd file. Always specify an empty string ("") for the domain argument. If the /etc/passwd file contains Sun NIS or NIS+ users and groups, RetrieveUserGroups returns information about these accounts as well.

Operations
GET
User Directory Get Domain List
List of Windows domains available for user searches, if the underlying system supports windows domain membership.
POST
User Directory Retrieve User Groups
Returns a list of *UserSearchResult* objects describing the users and groups defined for the server.