VMware VCLOUD API 1.0 - API - Introducing the VMware vCloud API

VMware, Inc. 13
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TheVMwarevCloudAPIprovidessupportfordeveloperswhoarebuildinginteractiveclientsofVMware
CloudDirectorusingaRESTfulapplicationdevelopmentstyle.vCloudAPIclientsandserverscommunicate
overHTTP,exchangingrepresentationsofvCloudobjects.TheserepresentationstaketheformofXML
elements.HTTPGETrequestsareusedtoretrieve
thecurrentrepresentationofanobject,HTTPPOSTand
PUTrequestsareusedtocreateormodifyanobject,andHTTPDELETErequestsaretypicallyusedtodelete
anobject.
ThischapterintroducesthevCloudAPIandincludesthefollowingtopics:
 “vCloudObjectTaxonomy”onpage 13
 “Objects,References,andRepresentations”onpage 15
 “LinksandLinkRelations”onpage 15
 “vCloudClientWorkflowOverview”onpage 17
 “A b o u t theExamples”onpage 19
vCloud Object Taxonomy
ThevCloudAPIdefinesasetofobjectscommontocloudcomputingenvironments.Figure 1‐1illustratesthe
principalobjecttypes.
vCloud Organizations
AvCloudcontainsoneormoreorganizations.AvCloudorganizationisaunitofadministrationfora
collectionofusers,groups,andcomputingresources.Usersauthenticateattheorganizationlevel,supplying
credentialsestablishedbyanorganizationadministratorwhentheuserwascreatedorimported.
vCloud Users and Groups
Anorganizationcancontainanarbitrarynumberofusersandgroups.Userscanbecreatedbythe
organizationadministratororimportedfromadirectoryservicesuchasLDAP.Groupsmustbeimported
fromthedirectoryservice.Permissionswithinanorganizationarecontrolledthroughtheassignmentofrights
androlestousers
andgroups.
vCloud Networks
Anorganizationcanbeprovisionedwithoneormorenetworks.Theseorganizationnetworkscanbe
configuredtoprovideservicessuchasDHCP,NAT,andfirewalls.
Introducing the VMware vCloud API
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