vCloud API Programming Guide
14 VMware, Inc.
Figure 1-1. vCloud Object Taxonomy
vCloud Virtual Datacenters
AvCloudvirtualdatacenter(vDC)isanallocationmechanismforresourcessuchasnetworks,storage,CPU,
andmemory.InavDC,computingresourcesarefullyvirtualized,andcanbeallocatedbasedondemand,
servicelevelrequirements,oracombinationofthetwo.
TherearetwokindsofvDCs:
ProvidervDCs.ThesevDCscontainalltheresourcesavailablefromthevCloudserviceprovider.
ProvidervDCsarecreatedandmanagedbyvCloudsystemadministrators.
OrganizationvDCs.ThesevDCsprovideanenvironmentwherevirtualsystemscanbestored,deployed,
andoperated.Theyalsoprovidestorageforvirtualmedia,suchasfloppydisksandCDROMs.
AnorganizationadministratorspecifieshowresourcesfromaprovidervDCaredistributedtothevDCsinan
organization.
vCloud Catalogs
Catalogscontainreferencestovirtualsystemsandmediaimages.Acatalogcanbesharedtomakeitvisibleto
othermembersofanorganization,andcanbepublishedtomakeitvisibletootherorganizations.AvCloud
systemadministratorspecifieswhichorganizationscanpublishcatalogs,andanorganizationadministrator
controlsaccess
tocatalogsbyorganizationmembers.
vCloud Tasks
Long‐runningoperationsinitiatedbymembersofanorganizationcreatetasks,whicharekeptonthe
organization’staskslist.
Catalog 2
Catalogitem
em
em
em
Catalog 1
Catalog 3
vDC2
Catalogitem
Catalogitem
Catalogitem
Catalogitem
users
Media
vApp
template
Media
vApp
TasksList
Organization
vDC1
Media
vApp
template
Media
vApp
Network
Network
Catalogitem
em
em
em
groups