vsphere-connect

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A bluebird Promise based vSphere client. Allows you to search managed objects and execute methods. More functionality will be provided in future releases.

WIKI Change Log

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Basic Example

var connect = require('vsphere-connect');
 
// create a client and automatically log in
connect.createClient({
    host: 'vcenter.mydomain.com',
    username: '[e-mail]',
    password: 'vmware1',
    ignoreSSL: true,
    autoLogin: true
})
.then(function(client) {
 
    // retrieve 2 virtual machines by id
    return client.retrieve({
        type: 'VirtualMachine',
        id: ['vm-1234', 'vm-5678'],
        properties: ['name', 'config.version']
    })
    .then(function(results) {
        // process results
    });
})
.caught(function(err) {
    // handle error
});

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API

connect.createClient(args)

Creates a new vSphere client

Parameters

• args {Object} - Arguments hash
  • host {string} - viServer DNS name or IP
  • [username] {string} - User name to log in with. Optional if using a session id to login
  • [password] {string} - Password. Required if using username to log in
  • [sessionId] {string} - Session Id to authenticate with
  • [ignoreSSL=false] {boolean} - Ignore invalid SSL certificates during login
  • [autoLogin=false] {boolean} - If true, automatically log in after client creation
  • [exclusive=false] {boolean} - If true, terminate all other sessions from the same user and IP keeping the current. Useful for service crash and restart
  • [maxRetry=1] {number} - Number of times to try reconnecting after receiving a NotAuthenticatedFault
  • [events] {Object | boolean} - Query the viServer for events and emit those events as javascript events from the client
    • [interval=60000] {number} - Time in milliseconds between Event queries

Returns {Promise} - Returns a Promise that resolves to a viClient instance

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connect.format(result)

Formats the SOAP response from client.method() into a JSON object

Parameters

• result {Object} - Result of a call to client.method()

Returns {Object} - Returns a formatted JSON object

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client.logIn(args)

Log into vSphere. Not necessary if autoLogin=true was passed to createClient()

Parameters

• args {Object} - Arguments hash
  • [username] {string} - User name to log in with. Optional if using a session id to login
  • [password] {string} - Password. Required if using username to log in
  • [sessionId] {string} - Session Id to authenticate with
  • [exclusive=false] {boolean} - If true, terminate all other sessions from the same user and IP keeping the current. Useful for service crash and restart
  • [maxRetry=1] {number} - Number of times to try reconnecting after receiving a NotAuthenticatedFault

Returns {Promise} - Returns a Promise that resolves to a session object

Events

• login {Object | string} - The session or session id

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client.logOut()

Log out of vSphere

Returns {Promise} - Returns a Promise

Events

• logout {string[]} - Array of session IDs logged out or terminated

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client.method(name, args)

Executes a vSphere method

Parameters

• name {string} - Method name
• args {Object} - Arguments for the method

Returns {Promise} - Returns a Promise that resolves to the method output

Events

• method.error {SoapError} - SOAP Error
• method.result {SoapResult} - SOAP Result

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client.retrieve(args, [options])

Retrieves a set of objects with the specified properties by type or id

Parameters

• args {Object | Object[]} - Arguments hash or array of arguments hash. If an array, multiple types can be specified for retrieval each with their own unique property set
  • type {string} - Managed Object type
  • [id] {string | string[]} - Id or array of Ids to retrieve
  • [container=rootFolder] {ManagedObjectReference} - Container to start search from
  • [recursive=true] {boolean} - Recursive search
  • [properties] {string | string[]} - if "all" all properties retrieved. Otherwise array of dot notation properties
• [options] {Object} - Options hash
  • [maxObjects] {number} - Maximum objects retrieved

Returns {Promise} - Returns a Promise that resolves to the formatted results of the retrieval

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client.destroy(args)

Destroy a Managed Object

Parameters

• args {Object} - Arguments hash
  • type {string} - Managed Object type
  • id {string} - Id of object to destroy
  • [async=true] {boolean} - If false, the task generated will be monitored to completion and returned
  • [delay=1000] {number} - Delay in milliseconds between monitor queries for async=false
  • [timeout=0] {number} - Time in milliseconds before the monitor operation should timeout, 0 for never

Returns {Promise} - Returns a Promise that resolves to the ManagedObjectReference of the destroy task

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client.rename(args)

Rename a Managed Object

Parameters

• args {Object} - Arguments hash
  • type {string} - Managed Object type
  • id {string} - Id of object to rename
  • name {string} - New Name
  • [async=true] {boolean} - If false, the task generated will be monitored to completion and returned
  • [delay=1000] {number} - Delay in milliseconds between monitor queries for async=false
  • [timeout=0] {number} - Time in milliseconds before the monitor operation should timeout, 0 for never

Returns {Promise} - Returns a Promise that resolves to the ManagedObjectReference of the rename task

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client.findParentType(args)

Finds the next parent of a specific type from a starting object (i.e. find the cluster a VM is located in even if there are resource pools in between). Optionally if parent types are nested (like resource pools) a root option can be passed to get the root parent type.

Parameters

• args {Object} - Arguments hash
  • type {string} - Managed Object type
  • id {string} - Id of object to rename
  • parentType {string} - Parent type name
  • [root=false] {boolean} - Whether or not to ascend up the parent tree until the root parent is found

Returns {Promise} - Returns a Promise that resolves to the parent's ManagedObjectReference

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client.emitUpdates(args, [options])

Monitors a list of properties on one or more object types for changes and emits the changes as an event. Updates are checked on an interval that must be greater than or equal to one minute.

Parameters

• args {Object | Object[]} - Arguments hash or array of arguments hash. If an array, multiple types can be specified for retrieval each with their own unique property set
  • type {string} - Managed Object type
  • [id] {string | string[]} - Id or array of Ids to retrieve
  • [container=rootFolder] {ManagedObjectReference} - Container to start search from
  • [recursive=true] {boolean} - Recursive search
  • [properties] {string | string[]} - if "all" all properties retrieved. Otherwise array of dot notation properties
• [options] {Object} - Options hash
  • [interval] {number} - Time in milliseconds between update checks

Events

• updates {Object[]} - The objects and their updates. No event will be emitted if there are no updates

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client.time()

Returns the server time

Returns {Promise} - Returns a Promise that resolves to the server time

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client.monitor.task(id, [delay], [timeout])

Monitors a task until it completes or times out

Parameters

• id {String} - Task id to monitor
• [delay=1000] {number} - Delay in milliseconds between status polls
• [timeout=0] {number} - Time in milliseconds before the monitor times out. 0 for no timeout

Returns {Promise} - Returns a Promise that resolves to task info after the task has been completed

Events

• task.state {Object} - Emits the task id and state on each poll cycle

util.moRef(type, id)

Creates a ManagedObjectReference

• type {string} - Managed Object type
• id {string} - Id of object

Returns {ManagedObjectReference} - Returns a ManagedObjectReference that can be used with client.method()

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Event Monitor

vsphere-connect has the option to periodically query the viServer for recent events. These events are then emitted from the client. This means that events are not real time but may still be useful. A user defined interval for polling can be set when creating the client to allow for more frequent event queries. The event monitor also emits an emitlog event after every interval so it can also be used to track the status of the event monitor.

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Generic Method Example

var connect = require('vsphere-connect');
var util    = connect.util;
 
// create a client and automatically log in
connect.createClient({
    host: 'vcenter.mydomain.com',
    username: '[e-mail]',
    password: 'vmware1',
    ignoreSSL: true,
    autoLogin: true
})
.then(function(client) {
    
    // create a destroy task to remove a vm
    return client.method('Destroy_Task', {
        _this: util.moRef('VirtualMachine', 'vm-123')
    })
    .then(function(result) {
        // process the results
    });
});
 

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Event Example

var connect = require('vsphere-connect');
var util    = connect.util;
 
// create a client and automatically log in
connect.createClient({
    host: 'vcenter.mydomain.com',
    username: '[e-mail]',
    password: 'vmware1',
    ignoreSSL: true,
    autoLogin: true,
    events: {
        interval: 10000 // every 10 seconds
    }
})
.then(function(client) {
    
    // add event listener
    client.on('TaskEvent', function(task) {
        // process task
    });
});