The vSphere Web Services API

The VMware vSphere Web Services (WS) API is a developer interface for ESXi hosts and vCenter Server. See the VMware developer documentation for information about the vSphere WS API:

http://www.vmware.com/support/developer/vc-sdk

The Developer’s Setup Guide for the VMware vSphere WS SDK has a chapter describing how to set up your programming environment for Microsoft C# or Java. Some of the information applies to C++ also.

The Programming Guide for the vSphere SDK contains some sample code written in Microsoft C# but most examples are written in Java, and based on the JAX-WS development framework.

ESXi hosts and the VMware vSphere WS API use a programming model based on Web services, in which clients generate Web services description language (WSDL) requests that pass over the network as XML messages encapsulated in simple object access protocol (SOAP). On ESXi hosts or vCenter Server, the vSphere layer answers client requests, usually passing back SOAP responses. This is a different programming model than the object-oriented function-call interface of C++ and the VIX API.