■ You extended the vSphere environment in some way. You can extend vSphere by adding a new type of object to the environment, or by adding more data to an existing object. If you extend vSphere in this way, you can extend the vSphere Web Client with new user interface elements that allow users to observe, monitor, and control these new objects.
■ You want to view existing vSphere data in a different way. You can extend the vSphere Web Client without having added new objects or data to the vSphere environment. For example, you might want to collect existing vSphere data on a single screen or location in the user interface. Shortcuts, global views, and object navigator inventory lists are examples of extensions that you can use for these purposes. You can also create a new second-level tab, portlet, or other data view that displays existing vSphere data, such as performance data, as a custom graph or chart.For a complete discussion of the types of extensions you can add to the vSphere Web Client user interface, see vSphere Web Client User Interface Layer.
■ Your extension provides new data about existing vSphere objects. If your extension provides a GUI element to display data that the vSphere Web Client services do not already provide, you must extend the Data Service to provide this data.
■ You want to add a new type of object to the vSphere environment. If you are adding a new type of object to the vSphere environment, you can extend the Data Service to provide data for objects of the new type.You can add data view extensions to the object workspace for any existing object in the vSphere Web Client. The vSphere Web Client provides extension points to let you add custom elements to the existing Getting Started, Summary, Monitor, Manage, and Related Objects tabs for each type of vSphere object, such as a host, virtual machine, or cluster. These data view extensions are displayed as second-level tabs or tab views in the object workspace hierarchy.You can add new object types to the vSphere environment, and extend the vSphere Web Client to display information about the new objects. The vSphere Web Client SDK includes templates that you can use to create the standard object workspace, including the Getting Started, Summary, Monitor, Manage, and Related Objects tabs, for your custom object type.
■ A templated object workspace extension. The object workspace extension creates the standard tab hierarchy for the new custom object, including the Getting Started, Summary, Monitor, Manage, and Related Objects tabs.You deploy plug-in packages to a vCenter server by registering with the server’s ExtensionManager API. When the vSphere Web Client connects to a vCenter server, the vSphere Web Client downloads and deploys any plug-in packages that are currently registered with the vCenter server.