You can verify whether your custom plug-in runs as expected by deploying the plug-ins on a remote vSphere Client and vSphere Web Client.

You can register your plug-ins with the remote Web browser applications by using one of the following options:

■

Create an Extension data object and register the data object with the ExtensionManager by using the Managed Object Browser (MOB) of your vCenter Server instance. See Register a Plug-In Package as a vCenter Server Extension.

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Use the vCenter Server plug-in registration tool provided with the vSphere Client development kit.

vCenter Server Plug-In Registration Tool

In vSphere 6.5, the vSphere Client development kit provides a tool to ease the registration of custom plug-ins with the vSphere Client and vSphere Web Client. You can locate the tool at the vCenter plugin registration folder under html-client-sdk\tools.

The prebuilt folder contains the extension-registration script that allows you to register and unregister your plug-ins as extensions to the vCenter Server instance. You can also update the registration of an existing extension.

The project folder contains the source code and build scripts for the plug-in registration tool which you can use to extend the logic of the tool.

To use the plug-in registration tool, run the script from the command line by providing the following command-line options: 

extension-registration -action <action> [-c <company>] [-k <key>]
 [-n <name>] [-p <vc pass>] [-pu <plugin url>] [-s <summary>]
 [-show] [-st <server thumbprint>] [-u <vc user>] [-url <vc url>]
 [-v <version>]

Command-Line Options for the Plug-In Registration Tool

Command-Line Option

Description

-action <action>

The action that the tool must perform. You can choose from the following options:

■

registerPlugin

■

unregisterPlugin

■

isPluginRegistered

-c or --company <company>

The company that developed the plug-in.

-k or --key <key>

The unique extension key that must be the same as the plug-in package ID of your plug-in.

-n or --name <name>

The name of your plug-in.

-url <vc url>

The URL of the vCenter Server instance where you want to register your plug-in. The URL must end with /sdk.

-p or --password <vc pass>

The credentials for logging into the vCenter Server instance.

-u or --username <vc user>

-pu or --pluginUrl <plugin url>

The URL from which your plug-in package ZIP file is downloaded.

-s or --summary <summary>

The short description of your plug-in.

-show or --showInSolutionManager

The plug-in is available under Administrator > Solutions > vCenter Server Extensions.

Note

In vSphere 6.5, Administration menus are not implemented for the vSphere Client.

-st or --serverThumbprint <server thumbprint>

The thumbprint of the Web server hosting your plug-in package. This option is required when your plug-in package ZIP file location is a secure URL (HTTPS).

-v or --version <version>

The dot-separated version number of the plug-in package that is defined in the plugin-package.xml manifest file.

For example, to register the com.acme.myplugin plug-in with version 1.0.0 that is located at https://150.20.23.254/MyPluginpackage.zip, use the following command on a Mac OS development machine: 

./extension-registration.sh -url https://10.23.222.35/sdk -username administrator@vsphere.local -password adninistrator -action registerPlugin -key com.acme.myplugin -version 1.0.0 -pluginUrl https://150.20.23.254/MyPluginpackage.zip -serverThumbprint 99:FD:2B:0D:12:85:37:AA:DA:A0:08:E1:F4:3B:4A:E6:08:AC:49:CD

After you register your custom plug-in, log in the vSphere Client or vSphere Web Client to verify that the plug-in is visible in the remote Virgo server. You can also use the MOB of your vCenter Server instance to view all registered extensions.